Grace and peace to you this week. This past Sunday we gathered online, and wherever you watched from, your kitchen table, your car, or a hospital chair somewhere across the country, you were part of this house. One church, two campuses, one family. I mean that every time I say it.
Homegoing: Deacon Robert Earl Bounds
Before anything else this week, we pause to honor one of our own. Our brother, Deacon Robert Earl Bounds, has gone home to be with the Lord. He gave his life in service to this church, to his family, and to the God he loved. Today we hold his family close in prayer, and we celebrate a life that mattered.
Celebrating the Life & Legacy of Deacon Robert Earl Bounds
Public Viewing
Friday, July 24, 2026 · 2:00 to 7:00 PM
Taylor Funeral Home · 63 East 79th St, Chicago, IL
Celebration of Life
Saturday, July 25, 2026
Wake 9:00 to 10:00 AM · Celebration 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Miracle Revival Center · 2010 St. Charles Rd, Maywood, IL 60153
Interment
Oakridge Cemetery, Hillside, IL, immediately following the service
Church, wrap this family in love. If you can be present, be present. If you cannot, cover them in prayer. That is what the boat is for. When the storm has a name, we row together.
This past Sunday we opened a new series, WHO’S IN YOUR BOAT, and the first message hit a nerve I know a lot of you have been protecting.
Why the Strong Ones Burn Out First.
Here’s the truth we sat in together. You’re not failing. You’re overfunctioning. You answer every text, cover every gap, carry every name, and somewhere under all of it the real you went quiet and nobody noticed. Including you.
Paul says two things in Galatians 6 that sound like a contradiction. Verse 2 says share each other’s burdens. Verse 5 says each of us carries our own load. So which is it? Both. And the difference is your whole life.
“Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ… For we are each responsible for our own conduct.” (Galatians 6:2, 5, NLT)
There are two different words hiding in the Greek. A burden is the crisis you run toward. The hospital bill. The funeral. The sudden collapse. Carrying that is the law of Christ. A load is the daily responsibility somebody keeps handing you. Carry that for them and you rob them of their growth and bury yourself under it.
Write this down: Tired is not the same as faithful.
Your one job this week is simple and hard. Name one load you’re carrying that God never assigned to you, and hand it back to its rightful owner.
Watch the Replay
Missed Sunday, or want to hear it again? Watch the full message here:
👉 Watch “Why the Strong Ones Burn Out First” on YouTube
Go deeper: The Sacred Art of Letting Go
If Sunday started something in you, don’t let it fade by Tuesday. I put together a resource to walk you further into this message, called The Sacred Art of Letting Go. It’ll help you name the load, find the person it actually belongs to, and put it down for good.
👉 The Sacred Art of Letting Go
Thank you for holding this house up
I don’t say this enough. Thank you.
Being a hybrid church means we’re doing two things at once. We gather in person in McCook, and we open the doors online to people who may never walk through a physical building but still need a place to belong. That takes prayer, and it takes provision. Your continued prayers cover this ministry. Your continued giving keeps both campuses running so nobody gets left on the shore.
If Mars Hill has carried something for you, would you help us keep carrying it for the next person who’s drowning quietly and calling it faithfulness?
👉 Give here
Here’s where I’ll leave you this week. There’s a boat with your name on it, and you keep saving one seat for a weight God never asked you to bring aboard.
Leave it on the shore.
P.S. Before your head hits the pillow tonight, name that one load out loud to God and physically put it down. It was never yours.
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