Followed By Mercy
The Followed By Mercy Podcast
Real Grace, Honest Hope
You might notice a new name and a fresh look, but the heart behind this podcast is the same. After years as the World Evangelism Podcast, I sensed God leading me to a deeper, more personal path centered on His relentless mercy and the kind of honest hope that can reach into every hurting place. That’s why this show is now called Followed By Mercy Podcast. The format may shift, and the tone may be a bit more personal, but my mission hasn’t changed: I still believe the world desperately needs to hear the good news of God’s love in Jesus Christ. You are welcome here if you’ve been with me from the beginning or just found us now.
What if God’s love is more personal, stubborn, and relentless than you ever imagined?
Welcome to The Followed By Mercy Podcast, where we get honest about pain, hope, and the kind of grace that finds you right where you are, five days a week. This isn’t about religious performance or church routines. It’s for anyone who’s ever felt worn out, unseen, or unsure if they belong in the story of God’s love. Every conversation is rooted in this reality: God loves you right now, just as you are, and He isn’t giving up on you.
Here’s what you’ll find in every episode:
Experience God’s Relentless Love
Every show starts by reminding you that the Shepherd knows your name, cares about your story, and isn’t offended by your failures or questions. This is personal—it’s about God’s unwavering affection for you.
Find Your Place in His Heart
Once you grasp how fiercely you’re loved, sharing that love with others doesn’t feel forced. It becomes the most natural thing in the world. Real grace overflows.
Prayer That Changes You
We pray together—not just for the world “out there,” but for the battles and hopes you’re carrying right now. These prayers are honest, rooted in Scripture, and meant for hearts that need a gentle touch from the Shepherd.
Discover Your Unique Role
Whether you’re called to go, give, serve, or show kindness in your corner of the world, God’s mercy meets you where you are. You’re not just a bystander. You are His beloved, invited into the story He’s writing.
When life knocks the wind out of you, this is a place to catch your breath. You’ll hear the encouragement that meets you on your hardest days, and your honest questions will be welcomed. No pretending, no heavy-handed advice—just the reminder that your Shepherd is right there with you, walking every step with you, even when you feel like giving up.
Why does this matter? Because some days, it feels like nobody sees you or cares what you’re going through. But the truth is, you have a Shepherd who never takes His eyes off you, lets you slip through the cracks, and never gives up on you. That kind of love can put you back on your feet, and it might be the hope someone else is waiting to see in you, too.
If you’re longing for more than just religious talk—if you want to know you’re not alone and that God’s mercy is following you all the way home, you’re in the right place. Whether you listen in the car, on a walk, or in a quiet moment, let every episode remind you: God’s mercy is after you right now, ready to bring real grace and honest hope.
Subscribe today and join a community to discover what happens when loved people become loving people. The journey’s just beginning, and there’s a place for you here.
Followed By Mercy
Forgiveness: The Ultimate Test of Love
Have you ever wondered what matters most in life? In this episode, we walk through Mark 12:28-34 and discover the freeing truth behind the greatest commandment. Jesus doesn’t give us another burden to carry. He shows us what naturally happens when His love fills our hearts.
The law says, “You must.” The gospel says, “This is what happens when Christ lives in you.”
We’ll discuss forgiveness as the ultimate test of love and how it becomes possible, not by trying harder, but by trusting more deeply. You’ll hear how bitterness begins to break when we finally believe God loves us with the same love He has for His Son.
The real question isn’t “Am I loving enough?” but “Am I letting myself be loved?” When you know you are carried by mercy, held by grace, and loved without condition, love overflows to God and to every neighbor He puts in your path.
Thanks for listening. Find us on YouTube, Substack, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Welcome back to, followed by Mercy, our podcast. I'm excited today to bring to you a passage of Scripture I was just reading this morning. As I was going through my Bible, I came across Mark 12, 28 through 34. And in this passage of Scripture, one of the biggest, most important questions in life is asked what really matters most. And here's what the Bible said. A scribe comes and he says to the Lord which is the first commandment of all and Jesus answers him the first of all the commandments is hear, o Israel, the Lord, our God, is one Lord. Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind. This is the first commandment, and the second is like, namely this Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There's none other commandment greater than these. And so today I'd just like to talk to you about the greatest commandment we are loved, so we can love. And, by the way, this passage of Scripture is not a demand but a description about what happens, because it can sound like a crushing weight. I'm to love God with everything. I'm to love my neighbor as myself. And who can do all of that? I mean, that is so difficult, but here's the truth. Jesus isn't handing out a demand that we're going to fail under. He's describing the shape of a life when his love has filled us. The law says you must. The gospel says this is what happens when Christ lives in you. I could never love like this, but Christ living in me can.
Austin Gardner:We don't start with our love for God. We start with his love for us. We love him because he first loved us. You know, that's what the Bible says in 1 John 4, 19. Before we ever thought of him, he thought of us. Before we ever reached toward him, he came down in Christ. We are not able to manufacture love. You discover it rising up in you when you finally believe that God really loves you over it rising up in you when you finally believe that God really loves you. That's the lesson I've been learning, greater than any other lesson over the last year is how much God loves me and how he loves me like he loves Jesus, and how he delights in me and takes pleasure in me, and he does that for you, and we've learned that so much through Psalm 23. It's not about trying harder. It's about trusting deeper, being more grateful. God's not after us, straining our performance. He just wants us to rest our little hearts in his love.
Austin Gardner:I think Corrie Ten Boom probably illustrates that about as well as anybody. She met one of the Nazi guards that had kept her in the Jewish concentration camps and this man had abused her sister. And she met him and he asked her for forgiveness. And she says that she froze and whispered Jesus, I cannot forgive him, give me your love. And when she reached out her hand she felt the Lord's love flow through her. That wasn't Corrie trying harder, that was letting Jesus love through. Corrie. Did you know?
Austin Gardner:Love shows up as forgiveness. Jesus tied love for God to loving our neighbors. Why? Because when God loves us, his love spills out of us. And here's the truth, the deep, piercing truth.
Austin Gardner:Forgiveness is the ultimate test of love. If you really love somebody, you have to forgive. You're going to forgive. It's easy to think about loving God. It's another thing to forgive the one who wounded you. Forgiveness doesn't excuse the wrong, but it does release the right to get. Even I no longer will try to get even. I forgive, I release. And only the Holy Spirit can make that possible. And bitterness is a great blockage. A stop to the Spirit's flow. When we forgive, we're able to taste the kingdom of God and Him so much more.
Austin Gardner:Now, you know I don't know anything about country singers, I just read this. But supposedly Luke Bryan, a country singer, was driving through Columbia, tennessee that's near where I grew up, so that's why it caught my attention and he spotted a woman on the side of the road with a flat tire and she was stranded and she had two small children. Instead of passing by, he just pulled over, rolled up his sleeves, changed the tire. No cameras, no stage lights, just a man seeing someone in need and doing the right thing. Now she put that out on TikTok and they took a picture together and it made the news. But isn't that really what the story is about? Just loving others and not doing it for the cameras? That's what Jesus was pointing out.
Austin Gardner:Love doesn't stay in theory. It steps off the stage and it gets down in the dirt and serves. The one who gave the commandment is the one who fulfills it, and that's the story of our lives. Christ lives in me. Galatians 2.20. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live. Yet. Not I, but Christ lives in me. We don't wake up and say I must love more. We wake up and say Lord, live your love through me. The love God requires is the love God supplies. Stop carrying the heavy backpack of performance based on religion. Set down all the rules and striving, and what you have to do, let Christ carry you. Love becomes lighter when you realize it isn't you, it's Jesus.
Austin Gardner:The story is told that during the Civil War, abraham Lincoln was asked why he spoke kindly of the South. Someone told him you should destroy your enemies and Lincoln supposedly replied saying am I not destroying my enemies when I make them my friends? That's not natural, it's supernatural. That's Christ's love in action. Now. So the guy understands about loving God and Jesus tells that scribe, you are not far from the kingdom of God. This guy understood love was what mattered more than ritual, but he still hadn't stepped into love.
Austin Gardner:That's the danger we all face of stopping short. We admire Jesus, we acknowledge his teaching, we live morally and we act almost like we haven't received him, because salvation's not about imitating Jesus, it's about receiving him. If we're not far, we're still outside, and you and I are to let him love through us. So the question isn't am I loving enough? It's, am I letting myself be loved? Boy that has changed my life, to realize how much God loves me and to realize that God really cares and to realize that he likes me and I'm somebody that he cares about. You see, when his love fills us up, forgiveness comes out, grace spills out. We notice our neighbors, we pray for our enemies and pride and bitterness begin to lose their grip. That's where life really begins, not with my strength, but with his. Not with you trying harder, but with Christ living in you.
Austin Gardner:So I would like to end today with just a couple of thoughts here. Who is God asking you to forgive? Who is God asking you to forgive? Not in theory, but in Holy Spirit, reality. Who is he asking you to forgive? Don't, friend, don't leave this thinking. God is demanding more love from you. Leave knowing he's already poured his love into you, this greatest commandment of loving God and loving our neighbor. It's not a mountain we climb. It's a picture of what happens when Jesus is alive in us, when his Holy Spirit sheds his love abroad. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. His forgiveness becomes your forgiveness. His compassion flows through your hands.
Austin Gardner:One of the greatest tragedies would be to stand close and acknowledge Jesus and not surrender our hearts. Don't say not far, step in, receive him, let his love be your life. So as you go this week, remember you are carried by mercy, held by grace and loved without condition, and that love won't stay locked inside of you. It will rise up and return to God and reach out to every neighbor he puts in your path. It's not a commandment, that's the kingdom of God breaking in.
Austin Gardner:So the guy said to Jesus, which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus came back with the Lord. Our God is one Lord and you should love him with all your heart. Thou shalt love the Lord with all the heart, with all the soul, with all the mind, with all thy strength. That's the first commandment. And the second is namely, like it Thou shalt love thy neighbor as ourself. No other commandments. On these commandments hang all the 10 commandments and all the other commandments, and so you and I we're different.
Austin Gardner:You see, the Holy Spirit of God is teaching us, especially in my life, through Psalm 23, how much God loves us. And now that I know God loves me so much I am able to love, now that I know God forgave me, let me just add this before I close Now that I know God loves the person who hurt me as much as he loves me. Now that I realize he's the father and it's like me fighting with my brother or my sister and my parents loving all of us I'm able to love better. And the more I find out about how much he loves me, the less I have to focus on me and the more I can focus on him, and I really think it's changing my life. I really think it's changing who I am.
Austin Gardner:I want to be more filled with grace today than I've ever been in my life, don't you? Don't you want to be more filled with grace? Don't you want to be more filled with grace? Don't you want to be more of what God wants you to be? Let's be honest, that's more important than any other thing in our lives. Well, I thank you for listening to. Followed by Mercy, I, more than ever in my life, realize I am followed by mercy. Surely, goodness and mercy do follow me all the days of my life. They pursue me. It's really God in front of me and God behind me and God in me. It's all about him and I've never loved him more and I hope that's what's happening in your life. God bless you and thank you for listening.
