Songwriter and worship leader, Bob Fitts, was at Kuala Lumpur Baptist Church on Sunday, September 13. With his great passion for the Lord and his gift in music, he led the people into a beautiful time of worship and preached the Word of God. He challenged the congregation to claim the promises over the church and our beloved country of Malaysia.
“You have a wonderful nation,” Bob declared. “What a beautiful country! This nation belongs to Jesus Christ—to Almighty God. When you worship, you bear the clothing of His righteousness. Throughout Malaysia today, God hears the sounds of churches declaring that there is no other God or King like Jesus.”
Bob led the congregation to sing a mixture of his own compositions and other worship songs including 10 000 Reasons, Be Magnified, and a new song he just wrote barely over a week ago, You Are The Great I AM.
Photo Credits: Kuala Lumpur Baptist Church; Peter Lim
“We feel like little children in Your presence.” He said, addressing God. “We feel like dancing and celebrating because You’ve taken our sin, You’ve taken our sickness, our disease, and our poverty. All of those things You bore to the cross—our shame and our guilt, and here we’re gathered on this Sunday because we are redeemed and purchased by Your precious blood, and so we say, ‘Thank You!’”
In between songs, Bob encouraged the church with words of exhortation, reminding us of who God is and how wonderful He is. He also urged those present to rest in the love and presence of Jesus. “I know Malaysians,” he said. “You guys work hard. So rest. God takes your burdens. Rest in Jesus.”
Bob then shared a little bit about how he and his wife, Kathy, went through a time of shaking many years ago when God first spoke to them to move from California to Hawaii to be a part of a missions organization.
“It was a very difficult time for us, and I think in a way, Malaysia is going through a time of shaking right now too” he said. “When we’re in the midst of difficulty, we just see the problem,” he continued, “We see the hard times. But our God sees differently. There’s truth that goes beyond what we see.”
Bob reminded the church of the prophet Elisha who saw a battle coming, but whose eyes were opened to see fiery chariots, ready to fight the battle on his behalf (2 Kings 6). “[Likewise,] God says, ‘Look up, Malaysia! In these days when you are seeing turmoil and difficulty on every front, lift up your eyes. Look, I am fighting your battles for you.’”
He went on to share about how he and Kathy were sitting one night in a junky little house with rats running around in the roof, simply saying to God, “Oh God, help us.” That night, he wrote a song—a song that has gone around the world that most of us are familiar with.
“I could never have known at that time that God was going to take my difficult time and make it actually my most prolific and blessed time,” he said. “That is what is happening to you right now, Malaysia. You may not see it, but our God, a loving, merciful Savior, is healing Malaysia.” He then led us to sing the song he wrote that night, when he was at one of the worst moments of his life:
Verse 1:
Father in heaven how we love you
We lift your name in all the earth
May your kingdom be established in our praises,
As Your people declare your mighty works!
Chorus:
Blessed be the Lord God Almighty
Who was and is and is to come
Blessed be the Lord God Almighty
Who reigns forevermore.
Verse 2:
Father of mercy be exalted
May Jesus’ name be lifted high
For His sacrifice of love has won my pardon
And His resurrection power gives me life
As the song concluded, the band left the stage while Bob remained with his guitar to share the Word of God. “I don’t believe that it’s an accident that God brought us to be with you here in this church at this time,” he said. In alignment with his tagline, “Take My Healing to the Nations,” Bob preached about how he truly believes in the restoration of nations through worship.
“You look around and you see these different situations that you don’t understand and we think things are out of control, but God is sitting on His righteous throne and I believe that when we come together to worship, mighty things take place because we’re affirming the fact that He reigns.
And so today at this very important time in this country, we say, ‘The Lord reigns.’ We say, ‘God sits on His throne.’ We say, ‘There is no God like You.’ We declare, Father, in this house of worship today, that You are to be praised above all else. And that the sound of praise shakes all of hell—that at the sound of the name Jesus, the Great I AM, chains break!”
1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one cried to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
The whole earth is full of His glory!”
4 And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 So I said:
“Woe is me, for I am undone!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King,
The Lord of hosts.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth with it, and said:
“Behold, this has touched your lips;
Your iniquity is taken away,
And your sin purged.”
8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:
“Whom shall I send,
And who will go for Us?”
Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.
(Isaiah 6:1-8)
“Isn’t it interesting how this passage starts out with this phrase?” Bob mused. “‘In the year that King Uzziah died…’ That’s kind of a dark thing to say, isn’t it? It’s such a beautiful scripture—I saw the Lord! But in the year that King Uzziah died…
“Nothing is greater than the rulership and kingship of our blessed master, Jesus Christ. We certainly understand that there are fears we face as a nation. Israel was in a difficult place when King Uzziah died. The book of Isaiah is written to a people who were broken. And the word that God gave to them was, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is filled with His glory!”
“There are difficulties and controversies going on. But God is not troubled by our shaking. In the year that King Uzziah died— In the year that Malaysia was being torn in so many different ways… I saw the Lord. High and lifted up. And His train filled the temple!”
Bob went on to give an example of how God has used worship in the past to bring healing to a nation. During the time of the Civil War in America, the country was divided and on the verge of a split, when a song of worship to God was raised up:
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword;
His truth is marching on.
Chorus:
Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah! His truth is marching on.
“It’s not a patriotic song; it’s a hymn!” Bob exclaimed. “That’s the sound of worship that the armies sang as they went out into battle. Today, America is one nation, I believe, because the name of Jesus was exalted.
“Beloved, I am prophesying to every one of you here in Malaysia. God has given you a song of praise. You may not all be singing the same song—that doesn’t matter. But the sound of praise shatters the darkness!
“All hell and demons shake when as your church we say, ‘You are the Great I AM!’ So lift up the sound of praise, because God is healing Malaysia. You may be fearful, but God says, ‘Beloved, rilek.’ Relax. Rest. Because Your God is seated on the throne.”
Bob went on to show some pictures of a recent event in Singapore. He and Kathy were walking downtown when they heard the sound of praise. It was a gathering of 51 000 believers, coming together to worship Jesus.
“I’m showing you this because I’m saying to you, ‘What has happened in Singapore and what is happening in Malaysia is a miracle through the sound of worship that is filling the air. God is restoring this whole region of the world through the sound of praise that is rising up. We stand with you and believe that God is going to bring healing to this country.”
Going back to the passage in Isaiah 6, Bob looked at verses 5 and 6. “What happened to the prophet when he saw the Lord? Immediately, he said ‘Woe is me!’ but God touched the lips of a man who realized that he was a broken man. When Isaiah saw the holiness of God, he realized he was broken. When we see the holiness of God as a nation, we realize we are a broken nation.
There are things about us that God is needing to heal. But the beauty of this is, God stopped the man from saying, ‘Woe is me!’ It’s easy to do that, isn’t it? It’s easy to see the problem. Anyone can see problems. What it takes—what’s profound, is when you realize that God has come to you and said, ‘Son/Daughter, I have cleansed your iniquity.’ How? Through the sacrifice at the altar of Calvary!
“This is the truth of the Gospel! It doesn’t take wisdom to see problems, church. It takes wisdom to say, ‘Lord, you’ve cleansed my lips. I receive your forgiveness. I receive your restoration for Malaysia.’ When Jesus died on the cross, His heart was for Malaysia.
“When He said, ‘It is Finished,’ He was thinking of Malaysia. He was thinking of you, beloved people. Every single one of you: ‘Red and yellow, black and white. They are precious in His sight!’
“Our God, our amazing God, said those words: ‘It’s done! It’s complete. Your healing is complete. I’ve touched your lips. I’ve made you whole. It’s a done deal.’ And now, we as a people enforce His victory on earth through the things we sing and say in praise.
“Worship says, ‘When you see your brokenness as a nation, you don’t say, ‘Woe is me.’ You look up and you see Jesus; that coal from the altar that has redeemed us.’ Bought and paid for through the blood of Jesus Christ. So we can say, ‘Amen! The blood of Jesus has washed us clean!’
“Christians, we call ourselves Believers. That’s our name. In the midst of brokenness, we say, ‘I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help (Psalm 121:1).’ I know my God has come to rescue me!”
Finally, Bob referred to verse 8 of Isaiah 6. “This is so beautiful,” he said. “‘Here am I! Send me.’ Those are powerful words, church! We often think of missions as going to other cultures, but missions is life. I love that statement!” Bob said, pointing to words on the wall above him.
“Missions is not crossing the sea. It’s seeing the cross. You are all missionaries. Every single one of you. God has anointed you, He has healed you, He has restored you, and you are salt and light to the nation of Malaysia. Your sounds of worship are bringing healing to this nation.
“Folks, say it again, ‘Here am I! Send me.’ Now, that doesn’t mean you’ve signed up to go to Bhutan. That’s not what it means. What it means is, ‘Father, because you have rescued me, because you have healed me, I become a healer.’
“Do you know that there were 12 men who changed the face of this planet? Isn’t that amazing? When the disciples were on this earth, there were 12 of them and 300 million people on the entire planet. Today, there are 8 billion people, and roughly 2.3 billion people who worship the name of Jesus Christ.
“Christianity is the world’s largest, most influential religion. Did you know that? That is the truth. You might hear otherwise, but that’s the statistic. Be encouraged. You are the light of the world. You’re the salt of the earth. And God wants to use you today. All you have to do is walk around Kuala Lumpur, be the believer that you are, and God brings healing.
In closing Bob led the congregation into a song he wrote that was birthed during a very difficult time of his own life. “We’re going to sing this song,” he said, “and we’re going to speak the words from Isaiah 3:5 over Malaysia!”
Verse:
Say to those who are fearful hearted
Do not be afraid
The Lord your God will come
And with His mighty arm
When you call on His Name
He will come and save you
Chorus:
He will come and save you
He will come and save you
Say to the weary one
Your God will surely come
He will come and save you
He will come and save you
Lift up your eyes to Him
You will arise again
He will come and save you
Bridge:
He is our refuge in the day of trouble
He is our shelter in the time of storm
He is our tower in the day of sorrow
Our fortress in the time of war
|Share The Good News|
Esperanza Ng
Leave a Reply