Bust a Move: When Faith Demands Radical Action

Listen, there will be times in your life when taking a risk is the safest thing you can do. I've learned that many people will have opinions on things they've never been through. It's funny how people talk about you but never walk through your shoes, got opinions about things but they never been where you've been.

Today I want to share with you about a woman who was sick and tired of being sick and tired. She had to bust a move. And every now and then, you're going to have to bust a move too. Every now and then you have to wake up early, grab your stuff, and go. I'm talking about somebody right there.

The Woman Who Refused to Stay Stuck

In Mark chapter 5, we meet a woman in the crowd who had suffered from a hemorrhage for twelve years. Twelve years, y'all. This woman was dealing with an incurable condition causing bleeding. And if you had blood issues back then, you know you often felt weak.

But here's what made her situation even more difficult. There was a law in the Book of Leviticus about people with blood issues. The law said that if a woman had a flow of blood for many days, not during her normal time, she was considered unclean. Everything she sat on was unclean. Everyone who touched what she touched was unclean.

Think about that for a moment. This woman had to get to eight clean days to be considered healed, but for twelve years she never made it past day four or five before starting over again. For twelve years, she couldn't be around people because no one wanted to be near her. If she was married, she couldn't even lay in bed with her husband. Everywhere she sat was considered unclean, so who would want to sit next to her?

I have to paint this picture so you understand her predicament and why she had to bust a move. She had to do something extraordinary because she could not stand her situation anymore. She had to do something radical.

When Doctors Can't Fix It and Money Runs Out

The Bible tells us in Mark 5:26 that she "had endured much suffering at the hands of many physicians." Now, if you don't know, what the medical practice is called, it's called practice. So when you go to the doctor, they are practicing on you. When they say "I'm not sure how this going to work out," they are telling you because this is a practice.

She went to many doctors. The doctor wasn't going to fix this problem. She had spent all she had, so money wasn't going to fix it. The doctor wasn't going to fix it. She was down to Jesus, and sometimes getting down to Jesus is exactly where you need to be.

She Heard About Jesus

Here's what changed everything: Mark 5:27 says "she had heard about Jesus." She heard. Let me ask you a question, how will they hear if you're not talking?

It's so critical that you share your story. The Bible says we're made overcomers by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. Question: when's the last time you testified? When's the last time you told somebody what God has done for you?

See, they will not hear if you don't speak. Often times people don't go to church because they have all these preconceived conditions, but when they have someone close to them tell them, "Listen man, God did something for me this week", now that changes things.

You may say, "Pastor, well I don't know how to preach." I ain't tell you to preach. I said share your story. And guess what, even if you don't know how to share your story well, it's never going to be wrong because they don't know the difference. So even if you butcher your story, they don't know the story.

Romans 10:17 makes it clear: "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." We all have a responsibility to share our story. You are all living epistles. One day you get to heaven, there's a book with your name on it. Question is, how thick is your book? How many stories can someone look at and say, "Man, that was faith"?

Speaking Your Breakthrough Into Existence

Mark 5:28 says, "For she thought, 'If I could just touch his clothing, I will get well.'" The King James says it this way: "For she said, 'If only I may touch his clothes, I shall be made whole.'"

Notice, she said it. She didn't just think it, she said it.

Remember, it's critical that you speak exactly what you need. She said, "If I could just touch it, if I could just get close to it." The Bible says in Job 22:28, "You shall also decide and decree a thing, and it'll be established for you."

See, she couldn't just talk about it, she had to move on it. There are some people who all they do is talk about stuff but they never move on it. Faith moves, and when you're in faith, you better bust a move.

Second Corinthians 4:13 says, "We have the same spirit of faith. I believed, therefore I spoke." If you ain't saying nothing, you don't believe nothing. You better open your mouth, because Proverbs 18:21 tells us that death and life are in the power of the tongue.

Remember this: you will manifest what you consistently confess. You will manifest what you consistently confess.

Pushing Through the Crowd

Now think about this y'all, for her to go into that crowd meant everyone in the crowd was now unclean because she was busting a move. Listen, y'all going to be all right. But see, what I need from Jesus supersedes your opinion and how you feel about me. Because right now, I heard that Jesus can heal me. I heard he's walking by, so I'm going to bust a move.

I know if they catch me out the house they can stone me because I'm unclean. So what I realize is the preacher ain't coming to me, I got to get to him. And sometimes in your faith walk, you have to bust a move, not worried about people, how they think about you, how they feel about you.

Listen, I've been suffering for twelve years. I'm not waiting for help. I'm going to go get it. Because there are some times in your life where sitting and crying is not fixing your problem. You can sit there and have a pity party and cry, "What happened to me?" But I understand, it rains on the just and unjust. All of us will go through storms. But sitting here is not going to change our situation. We're going to have to bust a move.

The Immediate Healing and Public Testimony

The Bible says immediately her flow of blood was dried up, and she felt in her body and knew without a doubt that she was healed from her suffering.

Notice two "immediately" statements. It was immediately for her healing, but it wasn't immediately for her to leave the house, because it took her twelve years to make that decision. The healing was immediately, but how long did she sit suffering? That's right.

So we hear the immediately part, we don't hear how long she waited. Some of you have some decisions you have to make, and you sit there and sit there. Then you finally ask somebody for help and they say yes. How much time did you waste stressing yourself out?

Have you had a conversation and you sat there and just worried and stressed and worried and stressed, and then you asked them and they said, "No problem." How much time did you worry stressing about just asking?

Often times we suffer in silence. You know you need help but you won't open your mouth to get help.

Jesus Stops and Asks: "Who Touched Me?"

When Jesus felt power go out from him, he stopped and asked, "Who touched my clothes?" His disciples were confused: "You see the crowd pressing in around you on all sides, and you say, 'Who touched me?'"

See, people can touch you, but that doesn't mean faith touched you. People were touching, but that wasn't faith. There's a certain hunger that draws God. The Bible says, "Those who thirst and hunger for righteousness shall be filled."

Jesus kept looking around to see the woman who had done it. The woman, though she was afraid and trembling, aware of what happened, came and fell down before him and told him the whole truth.

Now here's why this matters: there was a crowd there, right? We haven't seen her in a long time, and everyone knows she's got a condition. You know people talk. "You know that girl, she been in the house 12 years. Well, you know she got that thing."

When Jesus unmasked her, he did something powerful. She was hiding, sneaking, but he said, "No, no, no, no. I prepare a table in the presence of your enemies. All your haters are going to see what I'm going to do for you."

See, I need you, baby girl, I know you're healed in your heart, but it has to come out your mouth. I want you to confess my word because I want to reintroduce the world to you. They had some thoughts about you. They've been talking about you for twelve years, but let me rename you. Let me call you how I see you.

She could have walked away healed, but was her mind healed? If you've been through something for twelve years, you could have inner healing, but your emotions and your heart might still be jacked up.

Some of y'all have had some bad relationships. You thought you were good, but that thing is still kicking your butt. The brother's been gone fifteen years. You know I'm telling the truth. Because when you connect with people, it connects you to them.

Jesus couldn't let her go because though she was restored, she was not fully healed. He fixed her medical condition, now He had to get her emotions right.

Daughter: The Power of Identity

Then Jesus said to her, "Daughter." Daughter means we're family. Daughter means I claim you. He didn't call her "woman" or "lady", he said "daughter."

Now the whole crowd sees her Daddy. You're going to treat her different now because you know who her daddy is. What you would have said, you ain't going to say in front of my daddy. I know what you thought about me, but you ain't going to do that in front of my daddy. I know what you might have thought about me, but guess what, my daddy's here now. And you don't want none of this smoke, so you're going to change how you talk to me.

"Daughter, your faith, your personal trust and confidence in me, has restored you to health. Go in peace and be continually healed from your suffering."

Remember, salvation comes by this: if you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth. She believed in her heart, but she had to finish the surgery. Jesus took out the pain, but now he had to stitch her back up. When you confess it out of your mouth, now the whole world has to know who you are.

Now when you go back home, they say, "That's Jesus' daughter. Don't mess with her. Just leave her alone. Don't even put your name on her no more." Because now he has claimed her. He has reclaimed her. He's actually redeemed her.

Faith Facts You Need to Know

Let me give you some faith facts:

What is faith? Hebrews 11:1 says faith shows the reality of what's hoped for. It is evidence of things you cannot see. When she stepped out and said, "If I can just touch the hem of His garment, I shall be made whole"—that was faith.

How do I get faith? Romans 10:17 says faith comes from hearing what is told, and what is heard comes from the preaching of the message.

What are the benefits of faith? Romans 4:16 tells us all the promises of God are received by faith. Hebrews 11:6 says it is impossible to please God without faith. For those who come to God must first believe that he exists and believe that he is the rewarder of those who diligently seek him.

Everything we have, every promise, every breakthrough, faith brought it.

How can I grow my faith? Second Corinthians 5:7 says we walk by faith, not by sight. Notice it didn't say run by faith or fly by faith, you walk by faith. Walking means you can't accelerate. You have to go at a certain pace.

Why? Because God can't qualify you for the next level if you don't have the capacity to hold it. He has to build capacity in you to hold it. God will not put something on you that you don't have the capacity to hold. God can't give you a million dollars if you can't handle one hundred, because you haven't showed the capacity.

How do I display faith? Mark 11:22-23 says, "Have faith in God constantly. Whoever says to this mountain, 'Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes what he says is going to take place, it will be done for him."

You display faith when you speak to mountains. Something doesn't look good? You keep speaking faith to it. That's how you display your faith. People will call you crazy, and that's cool, because you can't fix my problem so I'm not worried about your opinion.

Most successful people were considered crazy when they started. When you're visionary, you see what others don't see before they see it. Elon Musk? Crazy. He's crazy paid now, though. Oprah Winfrey? "You're going to be a Black lady with your own network? You're crazy." Henry Ford? "You want to get off a horse and start an automobile? Crazy."

Often times, before you find out your big thing, they'll call you crazy because they don't see what you see. But if everyone sees what you see, it's too late. You've got to see it before they do.

Walking in Love Activates Your Faith

Here's something critical, Galatians 5:6 says, "In Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but only faith activated, expressed, and working through love."

What activates your faith? Love.

Here's the trick of the enemy: the enemy wants you to get so angry at people that you lose your love. And when you lose your love, you can't work your faith. He gets you so worked up, "Oh, I hate him, I hate him, I want to kill him", but then you're saying, "Lord, I need a new job." He says, "Uh-oh, you broke a rule."

If you want to be in faith, you have to walk in love. A lot of breakthroughs that you're trying to get, you've actually stopped your breakthrough because you're not walking in love. Faith is activated by love, so you have to drop that thing.

You might be praying for God to do something for you, but you're not walking in love. Now, the system of Heaven works like a judicial system. God's a judge. Jesus is the public defender trying to defend you. "I know he's raggedy, but Lord, I died for him. It's my blood. I died for him. I'm defending him."

Then you have the devil on the other side, the Bible calls him the accuser of the brethren. So you pray and ask God for breakthrough, and the devil says, "Oh no, he's filthy, Lord. See? See? See?" That's why you want to live righteous, so when you ask God for something, the accuser has no case.

Keep Fighting the Good Fight of Faith

Second Timothy 4:7 says, "I have fought the good fight, the noble fight. I have finished my race, and I have kept the faith."

You have to stay in faith. You have to stay in faith.

There's a story many of you have heard called "Footprints in the Sand." A man said, "Lord, when I came to you, you said you'd be with me always, through thick and thin. Your word says you'll be with me always to the end of time. But Father God, when I look back at my life, during the toughest times I see one set of footprints. But then I see two sets, then one set. Why do you leave me? I thought you'd be with me always."

The Lord said, "Son, I've never left you. During your toughest times, I was carrying you."

See, what you have to do, believer, is trust God when you can't touch him, when you can't track him, when you can't trail him, you have to trust him. He'll never leave you nor forsake you. He's an ever-present help in a time of trouble. When you draw nigh to Him, He will draw nigh to you.

David said, "Even if I made my bed in hell, He would be there." Jonah said, "I cried out to the Lord, and He heard me." Believer, He's as close as your voice.

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