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
Boldness, Access, Confidence: The Mystery of Grace Revealed
Have you ever read God’s promises and quietly wondered if they were too good to be true? In this episode, we look at Ephesians 3:12 and the staggering truth that in Christ, you already have boldness, access, and confidence before God, not one day when you’re “good enough,” but right now, just as you are.
Most believers trust God for heaven but live like they’re still on probation here on earth. But grace is not probation. It’s adoption. The gospel isn’t a set of instructions on how to get inside; it’s the announcement that Jesus has already brought you in. You belong. You’re home.
This isn’t about arrogance. It’s the freedom of a child who knows they’re loved. Your access to God doesn’t depend on your performance but on Christ’s faithfulness. Even on your worst day, when shame whispers that you don’t belong, you can come boldly to the Father because Jesus Himself has already opened the way.
If you’ve been weighed down by guilt, fear, or the feeling that God is disappointed in you, this message will lift that burden. The guards of condemnation have no authority to block you. Christ has walked you straight past them into the throne room of grace. The cure is complete. You’re healed. Now it’s time to live like it.
Share this with someone who needs the reminder: you’re not living on probation, you’re living in the full access Jesus already secured for you.
Thanks for listening. Find us on YouTube, Substack, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Well, I'd like to welcome you back to, followed by Mercy and our podcast Boy. Surely, goodness and Mercy Do Follow Me All the Days of my Life. Isn't that exciting? God is always chasing us with goodness and mercy. I am extremely excited every time I hear from one of our listeners and I got a text and it's kind of out of order in Ephesians, but we plan on being in Ephesians for a long time and so I'm not worried about that. So I just kind of wanted to bring you over to a verse, because they're reading Ephesians. My friend is a listener and they made some comments.
Austin Gardner:The Bible says in Ephesians, 3.12, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. They wrote and they confessed something very honest, something I have felt a thousand times. Sometimes I read God's word but I don't actually read what he said. I read his words but in my mind I twist them into something else, because what he really says feels too good to be true. Wow, can you relate? I really can. I sure can.
Austin Gardner:Most of us were taught that nothing comes free, nothing comes without strings attached. And then we read Paul saying we can walk boldly into God's presence and we are welcomed, loved, and we are confident when we walk in and our minds whisper no, not me, not really. But Paul meant every word. The Holy Spirit wrote the words, by the way. Paul's the writer, the Holy Spirit's the author, and so today I want you to let this truth sink in deep. We'll go through a little bit, slowly, listening only to Scripture, but adding the voices of teachers and missionaries and saints who've lived this truth when life was the hardest.
Austin Gardner:Paul says we have boldness, access, confidence, for through him we have access by one spirit unto the father. That's boldness. You don't whisper or stammer before God. You speak freely, as a child does to their father. The door is wide open. That's access. Through Christ, you don't wonder if you belong, you know you're accepted. That's confidence. The gospel is not instructions on how to get inside. It's the announcement that Christ has already taken you inside. You are home, so don't overcomplicate this. God isn't teasing you. The door's open.
Austin Gardner:Walk in Sin quarantined us, but God's cross blood cured us and the cured don't stay in quarantine. To be honest, most of us trust God for heaven, but we live like we're on probation while we're on earth. We need to understand. Grace didn't stop at salvation, it keeps us every moment. Boldness doesn't mean arrogance. It means you come to the Father with the freedom of a child who knows he's loved. Makes me think of my granddaughter running into my room when she was little, jumping on the couch grabbing the jar of M&M's and just sitting down and talking to granddaddy eating M&M's like she owned the place.
Austin Gardner:So here's the question If you really believe that you had access, if you really believe this was true, what would you pray about today that you've been too afraid to even bring up? That you've been too afraid to even bring up? Paul calls this truth a mystery, to make all men see what the fellowship of the mystery from the beginning of the world hath been in Christ, who created all things by Christ Jesus. Verse 11, 12,. According to the eternal purpose which you purpose in Christ, our Lord, and whom we have boldness and access with confidence by faith. This is a mystery. In Christ all are included Jews, gentiles, outsider, insider. You belong.
Austin Gardner:Performance-based religion says try harder. Paul says wake up, you're already home. Chuck Swindoll said quit. Standing in the hallway, dinner's on the table, sit down. The once hidden is now revealed. The gospel is not good advice, it's good news. You don't work your way in. You walk in by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Austin Gardner:Alexander McLaren said Christ flings wide the gates of the Father's house and every prodigal may come in. With songs instead of sobs, gladness instead of groaning. When Adonai Judson was in a prison in Burma, someone asked him what about the future of the gospel in Burma and he answered the future is as bright as the promises of God. Even in chains he had access to the Father. So tomorrow, don't measure yourself against someone else's spirituality. God's not running a contest. You are already included. Live like you belong.
Austin Gardner:You see, our access is based on Christ's faith Romans 5, 1 and 2, therefore being justified by faith. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we also have access by faith into this grace, and therein we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Our faith matters, but the foundation is Christ's faithfulness. Faith is not how strongly you grip God, it's God's grip on you. Your faith is in the hand that receives. His faithfulness brought the gift. It's like a transfusion. The life is in his blood, not your veins. The strength of faith is the strength of Christ, not the fever of your believing. It's the object of your faith. Get a hold of that. The secret of faith is union, not I, but Christ. Faith is empty If it's you. Faith is simply the hand that Christ is getting a hand on. This Christ lives in me.
Austin Gardner:Think of your worst day last week. Did you still have access to God? Yes, you did, because it never depended on your performance. So stop waiting until you feel worthy. Pray when you feel unworthy. That's the whole point. You have therefore received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk you in him.
Austin Gardner:Colossians 2.6. John 15.4. Abide in me and I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine. No more can you except you abide in me. Grace isn't just a ticket in, it's a daily life we breathe.
Austin Gardner:Legalism, works-based, performance-based religion says try harder. Grace says trust him. The same grace that saved you keeps you. Don't mix law with grace. The same faith that saves you strengthens you. The branch doesn't strive, it rests in the vine and fruit comes. It's not by trying to be faithful, it's by looking to the faithful one that we live. That's what Hudson Taylor, a missionary to China, wrote I have a great need for Christ and I have a great Christ for my need. That's something Charles Spurgeon said. So tomorrow, when you lose your temper, don't hide from God. Confess it, thank him for grace and move forward. That's grace in real time.
Austin Gardner:You see, hebrews 4.16 says Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. It's like this If we were to go to the courthouse and we were to go down, it would be Our friend who has the pass, it's the policeman that can get in, it's the escort. Jesus walks you past the guards, your family, you're on the list. The guards of guilt and shame have no legal right to stop you. What we need to learn here is we go by the author's faith, by Jesus' faith. When I can't come with boldness, I come with Christ, who is my boldness. So wherever you are today in the car, in the office, in the kitchen, you can say Father, I'm here with you Because in Christ we are there, you are there, I love.
Austin Gardner:Galatians 2.29. I know I hit on it all the time. I am crucified with Christ. I'm dead. Nevertheless, I live. Not I, but Christ lives in me, in the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself in me. In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. So faith is resting in the embrace that holds us. God's not waiting on us with a stick. He's got open arms. We've been cured so we can live healed.
Austin Gardner:Faith moves beyond words into a bold approach to the throne of grace. Expect great things from God, attempt great things for him. I don't know how to tell you this. I know in my own life this has been hard for me. I lived too much of my life in performance-based religion where I kept thinking God wasn't liking me. I knew he loved me, but none of that's true. So what we're going to do this week is we're going to decide. I'm going to change a habit. I'm going to change the way I think. I'm going to get a hold of things.
Austin Gardner:I have really come to understand how many times I went to God begging him, but as we went through Psalm 23,. You should have caught on David when he was in trouble didn't go begging God and whining when the prodigal son ran home and he went into the father. He had a whole list of things to say. The father didn't even listen because he was already looking for you. He loves you.
Austin Gardner:So we have boldness and access. By his faith, by the faith of him, we're believing by Christ, believing in us. So there can be a sigh of relief. God meant what he said. Use the access, the cure is completed, you're healed. Come to Jesus boldly, freely, joyfully. That's the gospel, it's the truth that holds us wherever we go. It's true this week, right now.
Austin Gardner:So you go to the Lord and you tell him I have boldness and access and confidence, not because of my faith, but because of the faith of Jesus. God, teach me to live out daily, to come freely, to trust fully, to rest completely in your grace. You know, you don't have to shout at him, you don't have to whine and complain. You just come in like a family member, completely forgiven, completely washed, completely sanctified. You may have been a lot of things, but you're not anymore. In Jesus it's all been made new. I hope that does for you what it does for me. God bless you. Thanks for listening to. Followed by Mercy. We're a little bit out of sync here, but we're going to put it right in. If you have any questions or comments, text me, write me. I would love to carry on a discussion with you. God bless.
