What Does Victory look Like for You?
Bishop Henry Fernandez Preached on 1/11/2026
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Summary
Bishop Henry Fernandez challenges believers to move from uncertainty to victory by embracing their identity as mighty warriors and breaking inconsistent patterns. Using the story of Gideon, he illustrates that God is still in the business of miracles and provides the strength to overcome those who seek to rob us of our harvest.
Key points
- •Victory requires shifting from uncertainty to certainty, moving from patterns of fear and inconsistency to confidence and discipline.
- •Gideon's story illustrates that God sees the 'mighty warrior' within us even when we are hiding or feeling disqualified by our past and circumstances.
- •Faith in the Kingdom of God is often conditional; to experience God's promises, one must actively apply the Word and remain faithful in the small things.
- •Inconsistency is a primary barrier to success; many believers struggle not with starting, but with finishing the assignments God has given them.
- •The 'Midianites' in our lives represent the enemy's attempts to rob us of our hard-earned harvest, but God provides the strength to keep planting and eventually overcome.
Scripture
Faith
Purpose
Perseverance
Discipline
Spiritual Growth
Life application
Identify one area of your life where you have been inconsistent (like prayer, a project, or a relationship) and commit to finishing what you started this week. Use the anointed oil as a point of contact to pray over your home and finances, declaring God's victory over every area where you have felt 'robbed.'
Reflection questions
- In what areas of your life are you currently hiding in a 'cave' like Gideon instead of stepping into your identity as a warrior?
- Are you repeating the same behaviors from last year while expecting different results this year? What specific pattern needs to change?
- God called Gideon a 'mighty warrior' before he had won a single battle. What is God calling you today that contradicts how you currently feel about yourself?
- Why do you think it is harder for you to finish a task than it is to start one?
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Full transcript
0:006 judges 6 let's just quickly close
0:04this fast judges chapter 6 beginning at
0:09verse 12 and when the angel of
0:14the Lord appeared unto Gideon he said
0:20the Lord is with you mighty warrior
0:25pardon me my lord Gideon replied but
0:30if the Lord is with us as all
0:36this happened to us where are all his wonders that
0:42our ancestors told us about when they said did not
0:47the Lord bring us up out of Egypt but now
0:53the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the
0:59hand of the Midian and the Lord turned to him
1:05and said go in the strength you have and
1:11save Israel out of Midian's hands. Am I not
1:16sending you? Pardon me, my Lord Gideon's replied, but
1:22how can I save Israel? My clan is the
1:27weakest in Manasseh and I am the least in
1:33my family. The Lord answered, I'll be with you
1:38and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving
1:44none alive. alive Gideon replied if now I have
1:49found favor in your eyes give me a sign that
1:55this is really you talking to me I want to
2:00pause there for a moment for those of you who
2:06don't believe in miracles what you just saw is your
2:12sign please do not go away until I come and
2:17bring my offering and set it before you And the
2:23Lord said, I will wait until you return. Verse 19, Gideon went inside,
2:29prepared a young goat and from an ifa of flour, he made the
2:35bread without yeast, put in the meat in the basket and its broth
2:41in a pot. And he brought them out and offered them to him
2:46under the oak. Father, bless your word today. We thank you.
2:52that you're speaking to your people in jesus name amen
2:58come on give him a praise one more time and
3:03you can take your seat just for a brief moment
3:09before we dismiss you want to bring to your attention
3:15the importance of overcoming uncertainty and embracing god's call for
3:21your life the uncertainty that's lurking around many of us
3:27today How do we overcome them? And how do we
3:32embrace the call of God on our lives, especially when we're
3:38uncertain? For the last eight days, many of us have participated
3:44in what we called eight days of refreshing. And during this
3:49sacred time, we have committed ourselves to seek the face of
3:55God for clarity and direction for 2026. And many
4:01of us are fully aware of this truth. And that
4:06is, if 2026 is going to be different and greater
4:11than previous years, God must direct our path. He has
4:17to be the one to direct our path. The Bible
4:22tells us, in all your ways acknowledge him and he
4:28shall direct our path. That's Proverbs 3, 6. For
4:33some of us, we've been confronted right now
4:39with the uncomfortable reality. And that is, we
4:44cannot repeat, and I repeat again, we cannot
4:50repeat the patterns of 2025 this year, expecting
4:55to get different results. It's just not going
5:01to work. If we repent, of our
5:06attitude and seek the face of God things will be
5:12different because if we repeat the same behaviors of 2025
5:18this year we will experience the same outcomes this year
5:23my brothers and sisters this year 2026 I firmly believe
5:29will be different has to be a different year In
5:35this season, we want to experience the real God of the
5:41Bible. The real God of the Bible. And no longer live
5:46under the influence of the kingdom of darkness. This year requires
5:52that we go to another level of faith and commitment in
5:57our faith journey. That means we need to have an intentional
6:03change. Intentional change. What are you going
6:08to do different this year? Are you just
6:14going to get hype, get excited and repeat
6:19the patterns of last year? Still hanging around
6:24the same people who you know are no
6:30good for you? Still following the patterns that
6:35are destroying you? Because this year we must
6:41move from uncertainty to certainty. We must
6:46move from doubt to believe. Stop doubting what
6:52God can do. Start believing. We must move
6:57from fear to faith. We must move from
7:03insecurity to confidence. Confidence. From hopelessness to hope.
7:09From distraction to focus. From inconsistency to consistency.
7:15The Bible declares in Galatians 6:9, "Let us not be
7:21what? Weary and well doing, for in due season we
7:27shall reap if we faint not." So I want to
7:32assure you and reassure you that God is absolutely moving
7:38in the earth through the power of the Holy Spirit.
7:44He's still moving. Don't you believe that
7:49lie where people are telling you God's not moving?
7:55He is still moving. We just saw the demonstration.
8:00In my mind, little boy was destined to die.
8:06God kept him alive. So on January the 11th,
8:112026, he can tell you and all the people
8:17are streaming that he's still working miracles.
8:28So despite the control and the strongholds that the kingdom
8:34of darkness has over our nations, governments and families and
8:39businesses and even in our relationships, God is still in
8:45control. The word of the Lord says in Psalm 24
8:51verse 1, the earth is the Lord's. and the
8:57fullness thereof he's still in control and so you may be here
9:03today or streaming and you're thinking you know god why am i
9:08so oppressed why am i struggling why am i going through what
9:14i'm going through why do i find myself at this this difficult
9:19spot Are things getting out of control, God, that
9:25you can't control it? The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof.
9:31So please don't get discouraged. Don't get overwhelmed by what you see, feel
9:36or hear. Oh, I get it. Sometimes you're not going to feel like
9:42you're a winner. Sometimes you're not going to feel like
9:48you're making progress. Sometimes you're not even going to feel that the people
9:54that you go out for the most are loving you the way you
10:00deserve to be loved. But you cannot live your life by feelings. The
10:06devil will whip you every single day. There are times
10:12you're not gonna feel like you need to praise God, but
10:18praise Him anyhow. I bless the Lord at all times. Sometimes
10:24you're not gonna feel like going to church or just partnering
10:29with people and encourage yourself, but how? Because we walk by
10:35faith, not by sight. So ladies and gentlemen, please don't get
10:41cheated out of what God wants for you. in 2026.
10:47Now let's deal with the inner struggles that we have.
10:52Many of you are not just doubting God but you've
10:58given up, given up on hope. Here's the truth because
11:03you've been robbed. Yes, you've been cheated on. You've been
11:09robbed. The enemy has robbed you of your peace, robbed
11:14you of your dignity, your pride, your comfort. He's robbed
11:20you, he's cheated you. You had a lot of losses.
11:27And it's painful. You've worked hard only
11:33to be robbed. You've trusted God. So
11:39you think you're making progress and you're
11:44not. You've been cheated. Many of you
11:50have given up. But you see, the
11:55Bible tells us that he provides forgiveness.
12:01Provision he has already secured for you.
12:06The peace that he gives will sustain
12:12you. So if you don't know him
12:17as your Lord and Savior, I have an answer
12:23to your problem. Stop doing life by yourself. It's
12:29that simple. There's no drug out there that can
12:35give you the peace that's a pass it all
12:41understanding. So whatever you're addicted to, give it up
12:46and try Jesus. That's it. If you feel
12:52that you're not provided for and you're struggling maybe financially, whatever it is,
12:58because you've been robbed. You've been robbed in taxes. You've been robbed in
13:03people taking your money. You've been robbed because you made your own mistakes
13:09and buying things you could not afford. I get it, but there's provision
13:15there. When you stay in God, he shall supply all of your needs.
13:23When you've lost peace in this confused world,
13:28you can go to him and you'll find
13:33peace. So as a result of your losses,
13:39you are restless, you're uncomfortable, and you're frustrated.
13:44And you have allowed these feelings to shape
13:50your personality And it has distorted who
13:55God has created you to be because
14:00you are not your best. It's a
14:05shame that you are just living just
14:11to exist without purpose, without purpose. I have
14:16to tell you this, that what your fiance, the person you're dating,
14:22is seeing, what your spouse is experiencing from you, and what your
14:28children are observing from you, and what the community is getting from
14:33you, that version of who you are is not who God created
14:39you to be. You're not your best self.
14:44God, you are only operating on 30% of who
14:50you can potentially be. And everybody's suffering. Everybody's suffering
14:55because you are running on empty. That's why you're
15:01frustrated. Now let me deal with that issue of
15:06inconsistency because you will never become the best version
15:12of yourself. if you're inconsistent in any area of
15:18your life the fact is you will never fully
15:23honor God when you don't stick to your vows
15:29when you don't stick to your vows spiritually relationally
15:35and even personally Jesus said it best he said
15:40in Luke 6:10 he who is faithful in
15:46what is least, least is fateful in much so
15:51many of us are making our faith journey far
15:57more difficult than it was designed to be why?
16:03because we are always watch this we're always crying
16:08out to God for help always these religious practices
16:14to get God's attention always begging Him to
16:20move on our behalf. But what we
16:25fail to understand is simply this: that
16:31God has been waiting on us to
16:37do our part. If you move, He's
16:42already there. He don't work for you.
16:48If you move, He's already there. What
16:54you want God to do is to
16:59leave His place to come to your
17:05place. See life can't be that complicated. You're the one
17:11that's making it complicated. If you work the word, the word
17:17will work for you. You see this may shock you because
17:23everything in the word of God, now this is just going
17:28to be shocking to some of you, everything in the word
17:34of God is conditional. Everything is conditional. Everything. Don't use eight
17:40days of fasting and prayer. Oh, give me this. Give me this. God
17:46is saying, seek me first. Watch this. The Bible in Romans 10, 9
17:52says, if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart, you
17:58shall be saved. If you confess, you got to do something first to
18:04get salvation. Come on now. It's not magic. Come on, don't turn
18:10the kingdom of God into this place where we're dependent on magic to happen. No,
18:16if you confess with your mouth, if you confess with your mouth, you shall be
18:21saved. Talking about condition here now. Look at Exodus 20 verse 12. It says, honor
18:27your father and your mother that your days may be long. So you want to
18:33live long if you honor your parents. Talk about condition. Now for
18:39those of you who fight in battles every day, every day. He's just fighting
18:45every day. Get up. The devil is fighting me. Watch what 2 Chronicles 20
18:51verse 15 says. It says the battle is not yours but God's. In other
18:57words, stop fighting. Let the Lord fight it for you. If you cast all
19:03your cares upon him, he'll work it out for you. you work
19:09it out for you so you don't you don't have to worry man don't
19:15expect the word to manifest in your life if you refuse to apply it
19:20as it has been declared by god so consistency is the key in the
19:26kingdom of god when it comes to kingdom living and success this is not
19:32the year and not certainly not the time and not the season for inconsistency
19:38we should be praying Lord, please give me the strength and
19:44the discipline to remain consistent. To remain consistent. That's the prayer.
19:49Because the truth is, watch this. You're gonna love this. You're
19:55gonna love this. Y'all ready for this? It's for you. It's
20:00not for your neighbor. This one is for you. We don't
20:06struggle to start. We just struggle to finish. That's the problem.
20:11We struggle to finish. We don't struggle to start a relationship.
20:24Some of you been in 10 relationships
20:30in 25. We don't struggle to enter
20:35relationship. We just struggle to move it
20:41from dating to marriage. Not your neighbor
20:47say he's talking about you. He's talking
20:52about you. We don't struggle to start.
20:58We get married, but can we finish?
21:07We don't struggle to start the business, but in two, three years
21:12when it doesn't work, we shut it down. Come on now. We
21:18have relationships. I want to be your best friend. I want to
21:24be your armor bearer. I've been wanting to be your covenant prayer
21:29partner, but we can't finish it. We join churches. Let me leave
21:35that alone. Let me leave that alone. Let me leave that alone.
21:41Let me leave that alone. I ain't touching that. So
21:46one of the main reasons people struggle with consistency,
21:52serving God faithfully and attending church consistently, loving unconditionally
21:58and becoming agents of change is because they are
22:04uncertain about the call that's on their lives. We
22:10say we love God and And we want
22:15him to free us from the enemy and yet we
22:21live in doubt and uncertainty and that was exactly Gideon's
22:27struggle. This is how I close it. That was Gideon's
22:33struggle. He struggled man. Just to give you a quick
22:39backdrop of the story of Judges chapter 6. Here are
22:45the Israelites, God's people. They were hard-working people.
22:52they would plant their vineyards and plant their crops
22:57and they would they would raise their cattle but
23:03every time they would plant and do what they're
23:08supposed to do because that's what you do to
23:14make a living every time they do it there
23:19were a group people called the Midianites the Israelites
23:25these were people who came in when it's
23:31harvest time, they would literally wait for the right moment and
23:37come down and rob God's people of their hard-earned living. Anybody
23:42feel like that? Is there anybody in the room feeling like
23:48you're working, you're working, you're working, and every time you make
23:54two steps forward, you find yourself making ten steps backward? Rape
24:00them. Took all their crop to the point where the Bible
24:06says that Gideon and his people would live in caves,
24:11would hide out in fear of what the Midianites would do. But here's
24:17what I love about the story. Gideon, who by the way didn't think
24:23much of himself. Listen, there's some of you in this room today, understand
24:29there's an overflow in the lobby, even in the lobby, even those of
24:35you streaming, you don't even think much of yourself. You've been hit so
24:41hard by... that you don't even know who
24:46you are the enemy has come into your personal life he has
24:52attacked your body he's attacked your relationships he's attacked attacked your marriage
24:58he's attacked your finances he's attacked you on the job he's attacked
25:03your your business he's attacked everything about you and you are in
25:09a place or at a place where you don't even think you
25:15can make it Gideon was in a place almost as you
25:20read the text as almost like he was hiding hiding who's
25:26hiding in this room today you're functioning but you're really hiding
25:32and the Bible says he had he had a visitation from
25:38an angel and I love the introduction or how the angel
25:44introduced himself to Gideon because if you read the text you
25:50can realize that Gideon didn't think highly of himself because twice
25:56he kept pardon me Spirit of doubt
26:02pardon me. I don't think I'm qualified. I don't think
26:07you mighty Warrior, you know what God is saying in
26:13this room today He's looking at you no matter how
26:19bloody you are No matter how broken and hurt you
26:25are and he's saying what's up mighty warrior You know
26:31why you know why I believe why the angel was
26:37able to say to Gideon mighty warrior It takes a
26:42warrior to keep on planting every season when
26:48you're robbed. Oh, y'all don't get that. Y'all don't get
26:54that. Every time the devil hits you, you keep coming
27:00back up and say, I'm going to do it again.
27:05I don't know who I'm talking to in the room.
27:11You've been hit a couple of times. But every time
27:16you fall, get back up again. But Gideon... kept doubting
27:22kept doubting kept doubt in fact i don't have time now to tell the whole
27:28story in fact he tested god three times because he still didn't believe the first
27:34time god showed up you would think that would be the end of the story
27:40i'm i need to know i need confirmation first of all you had a visitation
27:46from an angel what more proof do you need that god is with you
27:53What are you saying Henry Fernandez? I'm saying to you today how much
27:58more miracles God got to show you that he's with you. How much
28:04more? You prayed before he worked a miracle before. When your back was
28:10against the wall he showed up and he builds you out of a
28:16crisis. How many more signs do you need? How many more?
28:22Even after today, when you saw Anthony and
28:27the young man came up, what more miracles,
28:32how many more sermons do you need to
28:38hear? How many more prayers? How many more
28:43oil do you need people to put on
28:49you for you to believe? Why are you
28:54letting uncertainty consume you, controlling you to the
28:59point Where you have missed your
29:05calling. Hey mighty man, mighty woman, you
29:11are a mighty warrior. Because if I
29:17give you the mic to tell your
29:22story, you've been through hell and back.
29:28You have fought your way into 2026.
29:35I don't know who I'm talking to. You have fought your way into
29:412026. You should have been dead by now. But you kept on fighting
29:46by faith. You kept on telling the devil, I'm not going down like
29:52this. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Who am I talking to this morning? And
29:58so my challenge to all of you as we get ready now to
30:04pray the final prayer. and hand you a
30:10bottle of oil that has been fasted over
30:15and been prayed over. I send you out
30:21into the marketplace that in 2026, fight to
30:27survive. Fight to survive. Don't you throw in
30:33the towel. Hold your head up. Hold your
30:38head up. Hold your head up. Fight to
30:44live. Fight. If you feel like you're drowning,
30:50just keep your head up.
30:56Rise unto the hills from whence cometh my help. Ministers
31:02get in position. Get in position. I want to pray.
31:08First of all, only ministers should be moving now. Only
31:14ministers. Ministers. Now listen to me carefully. If you don't
31:20know the Lord as your personal Savior, I'm going to
31:26ask you right where you are. I'm not begging you.
31:32Don't you ever live through 2026. Not having your
31:38greatest security guard around you. The angel of the Lord encamped
31:44it around about them that fear the Lord. Let the Lord
31:49fight your battles for you. Don't do life without him. Please,
31:55I'm begging you. Don't you enter into another relationship if he's
32:01not in it. I'm telling you. Don't you stay in a
32:07relationship that he's not a part of. Don't
32:13you spend your money without the Holy Spirit influencing you? Don't you
32:19do that? If you want him in your life this morning, I
32:24want to pray for you and I want you to pray the
32:30sinner's prayer. Even in the overflow, those of you streaming, I want
32:35to introduce to you the God of Gideon that will take you
32:41from uncertainty to certainty. If you don't know him as your Lord
32:46and Savior and you say, Pastor, I don't want to live
32:52without Him in 2026. I honestly do not want to live without
32:58Him in 2026. I'm going to ask you to do something right
33:03now that may be a little bit scary, but how bad do
33:09you want to change your life in 2026? I'm going to challenge
33:15you as you're getting ready to sing to usher you into making
33:20this move. You want Jesus in your life today? Would
33:26you allow pastor to pray with you? Move from your seat. Don't even think about
33:32it. Get down here like you're desperate. You are desperate. You're desperate for him. Come
33:38on. Come on. Get down here. Get down here. I mean fast. Like your life
33:44depends on it. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come
33:50on. Come on. God
33:55bless you. Come on.
34:00Come on. Come on.
34:05My God. My God.
34:10Come on. Yes. Yes.
34:16Yes.
34:18I
34:23won't
34:28be
34:33going
34:38under.
34:43I've
34:48spent
34:53my
34:58life
35:03on
35:07Jesus.
35:13He won't let me
35:19down So I won't
35:24keep failing now So
35:30I won't No, he
35:35won't He won't fail
35:41He won't fail Christ
35:46is my Christ is
35:52my foundation The rock
35:57on which I stand
36:03The rock on which
36:08I stand He's shaking
36:14that I'm faithful through
36:22Listen quickly quickly. Thank God that
36:27you've come down today Let me
36:33just quickly say this before I
36:38lead you in the sinners prayer
36:43It is not hard to live
36:49for Jesus because it's not you
36:54doing the work per se. It's
36:59not by works. It's that you can
37:05boast about it is just allowing him to guide you it's that simple let him
37:11order your steps get into a bible believing church I would love for you to
37:16come back next week and the week after and the week after so we can
37:22teach you the word of God don't just come here get all excited and then
37:27you don't go to church for another month or two the devil will whip you
37:33that way get in your bible get in your word and pray and hang
37:38around great people get away from toxic people And I promise you, your spiritual
37:44life will develop on a daily basis. Right? Now there's a QR code. I'm going
37:50to have them to put up in just a minute. We want you to scan
37:55it because we need your information so we can follow up with you. If you
38:01are not ashamed of surrendering your life to Christ, we need to hear from you.
38:06All right, repeat after me. Lord Jesus, I recognize that I'm a sinner. I confess
38:12my sins today. I believe in my heart that
38:17I'm forgiven. I confess with my mouth the Lordship of Jesus
38:23Christ over my life. And I believe I'm born again in
38:28Jesus name. Amen. Come on, would you celebrate these newcomers into
38:34the kingdom? Now listen, this is just remain where you are.
38:40Everybody please stand and they're getting ready to take us out
38:45in the song. Thank you so much for coming. I hope we'll
38:51see you next Sunday. Remember there's no service this Wednesday because we're doing it virtually.
38:56We'll have service but not campus service. You'll watch it online. So hopefully you'll be
39:02here next Sunday as we go into the word of God. I want to thank
39:07brother Anthony for being here today. Come on let's show him some love. Now this
39:12is how we're going to do it. Everybody raise your hand. And this is how
39:18we close our service here at the Faith Center. As you're walking out, ministers
39:24are in position. They're going to give you a bottle of oil. One bottle
39:30per person, please. Make sure you get your oil. Go out today. Anoint yourself.
39:36Anoint your home. Anoint your car. Anoint your place of business, your desk. And
39:41listen, I know this is going to be a crazy one.
39:47If you feel that you're strapped in debt, you're gonna
39:53do your part, stop spending foolishly, give to God, but
39:58anoint your bank account. You may laugh at me, you're
40:04in a room, a building that this church bought by
40:10not going to a bank. Yours truly came on this
40:16property 22, 23 years ago with a bottle of oil.
40:23and walked around it and dropped little drops of oil because I believe
40:29God says it was mine. And God sent a stranger with 7.7 million
40:35dollars and said, "Here, go buy this building for God's house." If God
40:41can do it for this ministry, He can do it for you if
40:47you trust Him. Alright, so do that
40:52today. Come on everybody lift your
40:57hands and let's shout it out
41:03loud Faith in God will move
41:08mountains out of my life. God
41:13bless you. Thank you. The fact
41:18is ended. It is ended. God
41:23bless you. My
41:28house was built
41:34on you Won't