Your Life And What Comes After (24): See All The People

What is the Church Age?

Have you ever heard the nursery rhyme that goes like this—‘Here’s the church, here’s the steeple, open the doors and see all the people’?

Is the Church Age about church buildings, or is it about people? In the Bible’s New Testament books after the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the ‘Church’ always refers to the people who believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior and Son of God.

Just as the Old Testament was instruction for the people who lived back in those times on how to walk in God’s purposes, and the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John show us how Jesus lived according to God’s plan, the New Testament books after the Gospels now instruct us today on how to do the same.

Seek God First

Spend some time every morning praying and just enjoying the presence of God, speaking to Him and letting Him speak to you.

Add Value to the World Around You

Do meaningful work. Gain knowledge and learn valuable skills. Help and serve others around you in real ways that meet real needs.

Do Hard Things Without Fear

Don’t ever be afraid of hard work or of doing hard things. God loves you and has already given you great strength and courage.

Fight Darkness with Light

Stand up, speak up, and show up. Dispel the darkness around you by shining forth God’s love and light.

The You Miracle

Always remember that you are a miracle, and that God’s plan includes you in His family and household. See yourself as God sees you: His beautiful child.

Plug into God’s purposes and plan, and your life will be an exciting adventure as a co-worker with the Creator of the universe!

Next, we’ll start our journey into understanding heaven, hell, and the end of the world.

Your Life And What Comes After (18): How God Carries Out His Plan

How does God carry out His big plan?
He does it through people.

Which people?

First, His chosen people—Israel—as we see in the Old Testament.

Then, the promised Seed from Genesis 3:15—Jesus Christ—revealed in the New Testament Gospels.

And now, in our time, it’s you and me—the Church—as we read in the rest of the New Testament.


Israel

From the Old Testament up until the birth of Jesus, Israel played a special role in God’s plan. But God’s plan was never just about one nation—it was always about rescuing the whole world (Genesis 12:3; Isaiah 49:6).

Israel was like a delivery vehicle God drove through history to bring the Messiah, Jesus, into the world as Savior.

Along the way, Abraham got on board by trusting God’s promise, even when it didn’t make sense.

Moses rode along by leading Israel out of slavery, showing God’s power and faithfulness.

King David became a passenger too, pointing ahead to the true King who would come from his family line. All of them played their part as God moved His plan forward.

But what we really want to get to is how those guys and gals in the Old Testament discovered their own purpose and best lives by plugging into God’s bigger plan, so that we can learn how to do the same in our own lives.

Stay tuned.

Your Life And What Comes After (17): The Grand Plan

Two boys showed up for the soapbox derby with the same goal: win the race. Tim slapped his car together the night before. Boards didn’t quite line up, the wheels wobbled, and the steering was more hope than design. He figured speed would take care of itself once he got rolling.

When Wells showed up he was ready. He had a plan. He measured twice, tightened every bolt, tested the wheels, and adjusted the steering until it tracked straight. When the race started, Tim flew fast—for about five seconds—before drifting off course. Wells rolled steady, straight, and true all the way to the finish.

The Plan Begins

A goal is where you want to go. A plan is how you actually get there.

After Adam and Eve messed up, God didn’t just give up on His original plan to have a family to share His awesome creation with forever.

Genesis 3:15 is the first promise of God’s rescue plan.

Right after Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, everything seemed broken—the relationship between people and God was damaged.

In Genesis 3:15, God promised that one day a descendant of the woman would defeat the one that hates God and deceived Adam and Eve, even though that serpent would strike back. This verse shows the starting point of God’s plan to overcome evil and restore what was lost. Long before Jesus was born, God was pointing forward to His plan to save and heal the world through a promised Savior.

The Bible is the story of how that grand plan is unfolding in history, how different people plugged into it, and what your part in it is.

Your Life And What Comes After (16): Looking Back, Moving On

As we walk together down this road called “Your Life And What Comes After” we’ve seen a lot of interesting scenery. Now we’re moving on to the next part of the journey with some new sights to see.

Where We’ve Been

So far we’ve talked about some pretty questions, right?

Why did God create the universe and people?

Why is there something instead of nothing?

How do you find your own purpose within God’s grand plan and purpose?

Here’s a brief recap of some of the main things we’ve talked about so far:

We are God’s family, and we are the reason He created this beautiful blue gem called Earth and the universe that surrounds it. His love and attention are centered on us, and our eternal destiny with Him is His grand plan—and our purpose.

If you believe your life is the result of chance alone, with no purpose, and that you are only slightly luckier and a little smarter than a chimpanzee, then you will begin to see others that way too. Don’t sell yourself or others short.

But if you come to know and believe that you are the magnificent handiwork of God—fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14), created intentionally and for a purpose—then you will live differently. You will love boldly. You will stand firmly. And you will shine like the stars forever, just as Scripture promises.

Where We’re Going

So how does God actually carry out His plan and purpose for creation? That’s where we’re headed next. Heads up—we’re going to have to open the Bible to get there.

Because Scripture is where God reveals His plan—and shows us how He’s been carrying it out all along. And once you see it, you won’t look at your life the same way again.

Stay tuned.

Your Life And What Comes After (15): The You Miracle, Part Two

Callum had grown up with the huge Christmas tree, tall enough to brush the ceiling and packed with ornaments he knew by heart. On Christmas Eve, he scanned the branches—and felt it instantly. Something was wrong. Between the silver bells and red ribbon, a space sat empty. The old brass lantern was missing.

He searched everywhere—under the couch, behind the curtains, in coat pockets. Finally, in the kitchen, he spotted a dull glint in the corner. The lantern lay there, dusty but safe. Callum carried it back and hung it where it belonged. The tree felt whole again.

Did the brass lantern ornament not matter much just because there were lot’s of other ornaments on the tree? No. To Callum they all mattered and each one was special.

You Are a Miracle

So if Callum knew each ornament and was aware of the place each one held on the tree, how much more does God know you personally and the place you hold in His creation and in His plan?

In this verse, Jesus points to sparrows—cheap, common birds, barely worth a coin—and says not one of them falls to the ground without the Father’s notice. Then He looks even closer: the very hairs of your head are numbered.’

Your life is not a loose thread in the universe or a meaningless life among billions of others. You are seen, valued, and cared for by God Himself.

God knows about and pays attention to falling sparrows, and He numbers the hairs on our heads—easy to count in my case, since there are very few left.

You matter—more than you can see, and more than you can measure. You have a purpose and a life that only you can live, one whose full impact may reach farther than you ever see.

Life is a miracle. You are a miracle. Tell yourself those two things every day and your life will become a brilliant light that can’t be dimmed.

Your Life And What Comes After (14): The You Miracle, Part One

Prince Philip’s character in Netflix’s The Crown (Season 3, Episode 7, “Moondust”) said this about his disappointment in what they found when American astronauts landed on the moon in 1968:

Are We Alone?

The universe contains trillions of galaxies, each with billions of stars—more than we could count in a thousand lifetimes. Worlds beyond worlds are scattered across an ocean of space so vast it makes Earth seem like a speck of dust.

You’d think someone else would be out there by now. But so far, the cosmos has been… quiet.

No alien signals. No visitors. No confirmed microbes on Mars or the moons of Jupiter. Just an overwhelming stillness.

So no, I don’t believe in little green men or flying saucers zipping around our skies. I believe we are the only beings God created in His image—and that He made the Earth and the universe for us to share eternal life with Him.

God’s Focus Is On Us. On You.

What if life on this planet is incredibly special and rare—not because the universe is empty, but because we are the characters in God’s story?

What if Earth is not one of many planets where living, thinking beings exist, but the only place in His vast creation where God chose to create His family?

A vast universe does not make us insignificant. It makes God’s focus on us even more astonishing.

And that makes you a very, very special and important person in the universe. More on that coming up.

Your Life And What Comes After (13): The Body Miracle

In the early 1950s, biologist Rosalind Franklin was studying DNA at King’s College in London. In 1952, she captured an image—later known as Photo 51—that revealed a striking X-shaped pattern. Franklin carefully analyzed the data, and saw that it that showed DNA was made of two strands wound together, with the genetic codes protected inside.

Her data later led to the correct model of DNA in 1953. The discovery showed how the human body stores, copies, and passes on life’s instructions with amazing detail. What had been invisible inside every cell suddenly became understandable—uncovering the molecular language that is the basis of the immune system, inheritance, and life itself.

Three Ways Your Body Declares You Were Designed on Purpose

Modern culture tells us we’re just globs of cells waiting to die and decay in a universe that doesn’t care. But your body tells a different story. It doesn’t whisper, “You’re just an accident”—it shouts, “What an awesome miracle you are!”

Here are three miracles in your physical body that quietly—but powerfully—rebel against the idea that you don’t matter.

Your Immune System Remembers What Tried to Kill You

Your immune system doesn’t just fight—it remembers. Once it meets a threat, it records the encounter and sets up a faster, stronger response the next time. Sometimes that memory lasts a lifetime.

Your body was built not just to survive the present, but to prepare for the future. That’s wisdom at the cellular level, not an accident.

You Are Constantly Changing—Yet You Remain You

Your body replaces billions of cells every day. Skin renews. Blood refreshes. Bones rebuild. And still, you remain. Your memories, identity, and sense of self don’t dissolve with each cellular swap.

If you were just a glob of skin and bones walking around, you’d be a different person every few years. Instead, you remain you. Scripture calls this being “fearfully and wonderfully made”. Biology agrees: something holds you together beyond chemistry.

Your Heart Beats Without Asking Permission

Your heart doesn’t wait for instructions from your brain. It has its own built-in electrical system, firing over 100,000 times a day without you thinking once about it. Even removed from the body and supplied with oxygen, a heart can continue beating.

That’s not an accident. That’s by design.

The Bible says God “gives to all life, breath, and all things” (Acts 17:25). Your heartbeat is a daily reminder of that.

So What?

Your body is not an accident trying to survive in a meaningless universe. It is a living system fine-tuned by God’s own hand for a glorious purpose.

Believing you’re just a clump of cells makes life cheap.
Believing you were designed on purpose—and for a purpose—is rebellion against darkness.

Well done, fellow rebel.

Your Life And What Comes After (10): Coming Miracles

Below is a great quote from Dan Kent that summarizes how we can plug into God’s plan and how each of us can discover our individual purpose and talents in the process.

“Don’t stand around waiting for God to act, or for God to win your battles for you: don’t stand around watching for what God might do: rather, show God what you can do. Gain wisdom, gather knowledge, develop skills, give the Lord something to use as he rumbles through the earth unfolding his glorious will.”
Dan Kent – thatdankent.com

The Next Leg of Our Journey

As we go forward in this journey and you look to better understand ‘Your Life and What Comes After’ we’re going to be discussing three exciting topics:

  • The Existence Miracle
  • The Human Miracle
  • The You Miracle

Before we dive in, ask yourself this question: Do you need to see the person who built the beautiful grandfather clock in order to know that someone built it?

Stay tuned.