Sunday’s Message for Akron Alliance Fellowship Church, Akron OH, February 15, 2026.
For the “Live in Church” audio of this message, select HERE.
Have you ever wondered what your life purpose is?
Let me share with you my story about this. I’ve asked myself this question about my purpose many years ago. It came up because there was a time when I thought I was missing something in my life. I had graduated from high school and went to work at my uncle’s florist shop in East Cleveland while I was attending college at Case Western Reserve University. In hindsight, I was biting off more than I could chew, because I was taking the bus all over town just to get back and forth between my home in the Cleveland Lee-Harvard neighborhood, to University Circle for school and East Cleveland for work. It came to pass after two years of this routine that I wound up leaving school and started going to work full-time. I did a lot of soul searching. There was not a lot going on for me to be proud of, and I lived my life with that attitude. Through it all, I was asking a lot of questions about where my life was going. I had no clue.
It was a few years later when I finally realized that I would not amount to much or live up to my potential and understand my purpose until I put my life in the hands of Jesus Christ. And that’s what I finally did at age 26. There was no need to look back at how chaotic my life had been. I trusted in Christ and got baptized within two weeks in June 1986. If you’re counting on your fingers, that was 40 years ago. It was time to get acquainted with Jesus and put my life in focus with His help, and from there I could determine what my life purpose was.
Jesus took me in a direction that I never thought I would experience. Not even close.
I’m here to tell you that, 40 years later, I am living out my life purpose. I didn’t realize it right away, but I now know that my life purpose is rooted in these three different things:
1. Being a servant leader in my work and at church. At some point as I went through grade school and junior high school, I stretched myself to get involved in drama and perform in plays. I played the lead role of Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol in junior high school. It gave me the confidence to speak and even project my voice before groups of people. (I still marvel at what God was doing with me on this one!)
2. Be a student of the Bible for life. This one came along much later, but the Lord showed me some time ago that one of the best ways to learn the Bible is to teach Sunday school. It forces you to study God’s Word to be able to stand before a class of junior high schoolers, and later adults while not embarrassing myself. For everyone within the sound of my voice, whether you are a believer in Jesus or not, you should also share in this purpose for your life. This is free advice for everyone.
3. To glorify God and to reflect Jesus before others. Your life’s purpose, whether you realize it or not, is to glorify your Creator.
Your life purpose centers on the virtues (valued traits within your life purpose) pertaining to you and your relationship with Jesus Christ:
A. Faith
B. Hope
C. Love
Why are these virtues important?
Paul, in his Spirit-inspired letters, declares that faith, which is a gift from God, is a necessity to please God.
Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
Hebrews 11:6 NIV
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Hope is necessary because it gets us through life in a fallen, often hopeless world.1
Jeremiah 29:11 NIV
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Psalm 121:7-8 NIV
7 The Lord will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.
Romans 15:13 NIV
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Love is the highest of all virtues. It drives our desire to serve Jesus with our spiritual gifts, and in the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit, it compels us to be more holy as time goes along. Paul reminds us that if love is not in our actions—gifts, talents and sacrifices—then they are meaningless.
Matthew 22:36-40 NIV
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
John 13:34-35 NIV
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
1 Corinthians 13:1-3, 8, 13 NLT
1 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.
8 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever!
13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
These three virtues—faith, hope and love are covered in the book of Romans. J. Vernon McGee noted that the first eight chapters of Romans involve doctrine and the necessity of faith. Chapters 9 to 11 focus on dispensationalism and emphasize hope. The last chapters, 12 to 16, emphasize love.2
So when we look at what it is to explore your life purpose, it is fitting that our church is spending a lot of time in the book of Romans, because there is so much to gain from these studies. We’ve been in Romans for Live Stream Sunday School since this past June, and we started in Romans with our monthly Bible study series in late 2024, and if you are following the second year of the Two-Year Bible Reading Plan, your New Testament verses right now are in… you guessed it…Romans!
Our study in Romans was deliberate and intentional because it is one of the most important books in the Bible—especially because of its overall message. Paul makes the case throughout the book of the importance of faith in Jesus Christ.
If you want to know how to give God the glory, your personal study of Romans will make it very clear who you are in Christ, what your potential is in Christ, and how love should be dominant in everything that you do for Christ. And at the same time, you will be able to learn Bible verses that proclaim the gospel that you can share with others.
I’ll bet you didn’t see that one coming! You can meet your life purpose and also become an evangelist! An evangelist, at its core, is one who brings or proclaims the gospel—the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. The word evangelist is a derivation of the Greek word that means “good news” or “gospel.”3 By focusing on the book of Romans, you will learn key Bible verses to share with others.
Today, we’re taking a trip together on Romans Road.4 Let’s make a note of the following verses and internalize them as we reflect upon their message for each one of us:
Romans 3:23 NIV
…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
It’s not just that we are all sinners, but that we are unable to meet His holy standards. It’s in our nature to commit sin.
Romans 6:23 NIV
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Sin results in consequences that lead to death, but we immediately recognize here that faith and believing in Jesus Christ and His resurrection overcomes death and gives us the free gift of eternal life.
Romans 8:1 NIV
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
This verse is a good summarization of Romans 3:23 and 6:23. Living a life free of condemnation because of what Jesus did on the cross for you and me.
Romans 5:1, 8 NIV
1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
The first two verses reveal that we sin, that there are consequences for it, and that Christ is the remedy for our condition when we have faith in Him. Romans 5:1 and 5:8 teach about how we experience God’s love, peace and our justification through faith.
Romans 10:9-10, 13 NIV
9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
13 …for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
These words must be shared to describe the movement of faith in Jesus Christ to become a believer. The words of declaration that “Jesus is Lord” does not necessarily need to be audible, but it is by believing that Jesus is Lord puts Him in a place of authority in your life, and that leads to the heartfelt belief that He alone has the power and authority to justify and cleanse you from your sin. This is the act of faith that leads to eternal life in Christ.
For those of you familiar with the Romans Road, these passages certainly should bring back memories. Verses like these remind us of who we were before Christ, who we are in Christ, and what future we can look forward to when the time comes for us to leave this world and be with Him. We can take great comfort that we have salvation in Jesus Christ because of faith…faith plus nothing! It’s all done for us.
John 19:28-30 NLT
28 Jesus knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfill Scripture he said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips. 30 When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
His words, “It is finished” declared the fulfillment of prophecy and everything that He was purposed to do in taking on the sins of all humanity for all time through His death on the cross. It was all done for us.
Now, the resurrection of Jesus, which was also a fulfillment of prophecy and our path to eternal life as Jesus overcame death for us.
Hosea 13:14a NIV
“I will deliver this people from the power of the grave;
I will redeem them from death.
Where, O death, are your plagues?
Where, O grave, is your destruction?
Luke 24:1-8 NIV
1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words.
John 3:16-17 NIV
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
We have eternal life with Jesus because of faith plus nothing.
What a wonderful message to internalize and also share with others!
If you have never traveled the Romans Road, there’s no better time than right now to begin. Make it a plan to read, study and memorize these Bible verses.
We started this message about pursuing your life purpose. Prayerfully, you can see that your greatest purpose in life is to glorify God in everything that you do. People need to see the love of Christ in your movement, and when you share with others, always remember that faith moves mountains, hope springs eternal, and love conquers all because Jesus paid it all.
There is no greater purpose.
Copyright © 2026 Melvin Gaines.
1 Darling, D. (2019, February 26). Why Love is greater than faith and hope. Core Christianity. https://corechristianity.com/resources/articles/why-love-is-greater-than-faith-and-hope
2 McGee, Dr. J. Vernon. “Commentary on Romans 9”. “‘Thru the Bible’ with Dr. J. Vernon McGee”. https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/ttb/romans-9.html. 2008.
3 Melson, E. (2025, December 23). What is an evangelist in the Bible? meaning & role explained. Christianity.com. https://www.christianity.com/wiki/bible/what-is-the-meaning-of-evangelist-in-the-bible.html
4 Perry, T. (2023, December 1). Finding (& sharing) Jesus on the Romans Road to salvation. Word by Word. https://www.logos.com/grow/nook-romans-road-salvation/
Melvin Gaines 