January 18, 2026

EXTRAORDINARY FAITH:

UNLOCKING A LIFE OF FAITH

January 18, 2026

Teaching Pastor Charles Billingsley

Have you been impressed with the saints who showed “Extraordinary Faith”? Have you been encouraged that people who had no great skills—and, in fact, some were quite the opposite of one it seemed God might choose—did something so great that God showed up in a way that astounded everyone? For instance, Rahab, a harlot, ended up in the lineage of Christ because of her faith. The three Israeli youths, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego— would not worship a statue of Nebuchadnezzar and so were thrown into a fiery furnace. Yet Jesus stepped into it with them—and none of them even smelled of fire afterward! Does God do things like this today? Scripture says, ‘He is the same yesterday, today, and forever,’ therefore, the answer is ‘Yes.’ Will He do something like that for you? If He desires to. He will do whatever His holy will pleases. But, will your faith be so extraordinary that He would want to? We have to obey Him through the small fires first. Are you willing to have an extraordinary faith?

Focal Passage: Hebrews 11:1-35-12:3.

Door #1—Faith in the best of times:

  • Read Hebrews 11:1. Give all the definitions of faith that you know. Is ‘faith’ a simple word? Read Luke 9:23 and Rom. 12:1. When you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, what are you basing your faith on? Are you ready to deny yourself to please God?
  • What are you claiming you will do with your life? Why is this like the covenant of marriage people make? After making a commitment to Jesus Christ, why is it necessary to rid yourself of any ‘weights and sin’ that might linger? You must:

Close and lock the door of disbelief: 

  • Read Heb. 11:30. What point is the writer trying to make here? If Israel had drawn swords and killed those of Jericho, who could have claimed the victory? Did God leave any doubt about who won this battle?
  • What part of your life harbors some doubt about God’s ability?

Close and lock the door of cultural confusion:

  • Read Heb. 11:31. What do you think of when you hear the term ‘cultural confusion’? Are you familiar enough with the Bible to feel comfortable who you find yourself among? What would you say would be the main attitude you need to project?
  • Read Matt.15:21-28. Why did Jesus ignore the Canaanite woman (vs.23)? What was His testimony of her to the residents of Tyre and Sidon? What did the disciples learn? What did He teach about the Gentiles here?

Close and lock the door of fear:

  • 11:32a. Who does not have fear of something? What are some of the fears you have?
  • Read 2 Tim.1:71, 1 Jn. 4:18, and 1 Pet. 5:8. Where does fear come from? How do you overcome the fear in your life? Knowing that fear comes from Satan should give you what kind of desire? What are the three weapons God gives you to fight fear with?

Close and lock the door of sin:

  • Read Heb.11:33-35a. What was special about these ‘witnesses’? Read vs. 34b, c again. Did God say some of these were weak? How were they made strong? At what point did they become strong? Is that how you often feel (weak)?
  • Once you have a victory of faith, will you continue to persevere? Why can you always trust God to do the impossible?

Door #2—Faith in the worst of times:

  • Read Heb. 11:35b. In the verses over the past three weeks, you have heard the victories. What happens in this verse? Was their faith any weaker than the others’? Why is it possible that it could even have been greater?
  • Read Luke 13:1-5. What is Jesus teaching here? How does that reflect the way you have a tendency to think today? Yet, what do you think about a ‘good’ person dying, when you know multitudes of evil-doers who seem blessed? What did Pastor Charles say about ‘why bad things happen to good people’? Read Heb. 11:39-40.
  • Read Job 13:15. Can you imagine going through testing as Job did? Yet did he sin with his mouth (1:22)? Was Job willing to let God take his life (13,15)? Can we say this verse and mean it?
  • How would it have been easy for Daniel or the three friends’ story to have ended differently? Will we ever know why God chooses good endings for some, death for others?

Door #3—Faith for a lifetime:

  • Read Heb. 12:1-3. Once you have accepted Christ, what must you do? What is the first thing to remove? Why? What is the second? Can you do that? Will there be witnesses yelling for you to make it as you cross into Paradise?
  • What is the third? What will you learn about Jesus when you die? Do you want to hear “Well done, good and faithful servant”? How can that happen?

TAKEAWAYS:

  • It is up to us to do what is possible and leave the impossible to God.
  • Faith that requires God to act is the greatest faith there is.

Close:  There is only one way to make it through this life: keep getting back up when we fall, then putting one foot in front of the other as we run that race. Don’t ever quit. It will all be worth it when we cross the last hurdle, caught in the arms of everyone who rejoices as we enter Paradise.

By Sandy Day

January 18, 2026

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