Foundations: 11 Core Spiritual Truths

Foundations 2018

Foundations is starting again this Spring at many Saddleback campuses! 

Campuses offering Course 1 (Bible, God, Jesus, Holy Spirit)

Click Here for Saddleback South Manila (Begins Friday, January 26!)

Click Here for Saddleback Rancho Capistrano (Begins Thursday, April 5!)

Campuses offering Course 2 (Creation, Salvation, Sanctification, The Church)

Click Here for Saddleback Lake Forest (Begins Thursday, April 12!)

Click Here for Saddleback San Diego (Begins Wednesday, April 4!)

For information on purchasing Foundations Participant Guides, click here.

NEW! You can now watch any Foundations topic whenever you want! All sessions are now available on-demand here. 

For Foundations dates and times for all of our Saddleback campuses, please visit saddleback.com/maturity
or check with your Campus Pastor.

Foundations is a curriculum created here at Saddleback Church about the 11 core spiritual truths of the Christian faith. Foundations will show you how to apply biblical truths to your everyday life using a step-by-step approach to understanding the essentials of what it means to be a follower of Christ. Each session includes teaching, discussion time and a chance to connect in a small group setting. This course is a great opportunity to grow and mature in your faith whether you’re interested in taking Foundations as individual or as a small group.

 And we invite you to join us no matter where you are on your faith journey. You may be a mature believer who needs to refresh your heart and mind on these essential truths, or you may be a brand new believer desiring to start your faith journey by establishing a strong foundation on God’s Word, or maybe you’re simply curious about the Christian faith. All are welcome!

For questions, please contact the Maturity Team at maturity@saddleback.com 

Foundations Course Overview:

Foundations is separated into three distinct courses, which can be taken in any order:

• Foundations Course 1  covers The Bible, God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. It explores questions such as: Where did we get the Bible and how do I know I can trust it? What is God like? Is Jesus God, a man, or both? Who is the Holy Spirit and what does He do in my life? (8 weeks) 

• Foundations Course 2 covers Creation, Salvation, Sanctification, and The Church. It explores questions such as: How did we get here? What does it mean to be saved? How do we grow in our relationship with God?  What is the Church supposed to be and do?  (8 weeks) 

• Foundations Course 3  covers Good and Evil, The Afterlife, and The Second Coming. It explores questions such as:Why is there evil in the world?What happens to us when we die?  What will happen during the end times?  (6 weeks)

Foundations Topic / Session Descriptions:

• Introductory Study: to trust in the power of God’s truth to change your life; to anticipate in faith the changes that learning doctrine will make in you.

• The Bible (Part 1): to deepen (or form) your conviction that the Bible, as God’s Word, can be trusted more than your feelings, values, opinions, and culture.

• The Bible (Part 2): to give you deep and lasting confidence in your God-given ability to understand the Bible.

• God (Part 1): to gain a deeper sense of God’s love for you as your Father; to live in a new way on the fact that God is your Father.

• God (Part 2): to develop a sense of amazement about God that results in a decision to spend time getting to know him.

• Jesus (Part 1): to enable you to get to know Jesus Christ as your best friend; to encourage you to live out the truth of Jesus as your friend.

• Jesus (Part 2): to develop an understanding of Jesus’ nature as both God and man that will protect you against false teachings and give you confidence in trusting Jesus with a specific need.

• The Holy Spirit (Part 1): to experience a new sense of security in your relationship with God based on the presence of his Spirit in your life; to see with eyes of faith how the Holy Spirit is at work in your life.

• The Holy Spirit (Part 2): to gain a clear understanding of the difference between the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the filling of the Holy Spirit; to immediately begin to recognize and live out the truth that you are filled with God’s Spirit.

• Creation (Part 1): to deepen your conviction that the world and all that is in it was created by the personal action of a personal God.

• Creation (Part 2): to build a strong foundation for worshiping and obeying God as your Creator.

• Salvation (Part 1): to give you an understanding of God’s gift of salvation that enables you to love God more deeply for what He did for you and tell others more confidently what God can do for them.

• Salvation (Part 2): to give you an assurance of your salvation that results in a deepening security in God’s love and an appreciation for God’s grace.

• Sanctification (Part 1): to develop a deep conviction in you that, because of Jesus’ love, you are holy; to build a foundation of truth that will lead to a lifetime of growth in Christ. 

• Sanctification (Part 2): to decide to trust grace rather than law for your growth, to trust God’s process rather than your plan for your growth, and trust God’s promises rather than your willpower for your growth.
• The Church (Part 1): to deepen your love and commitment to the church; to see your part in living out all five purposes of the church in a new or deeper way.
• The Church (Part 2): to gain a new appreciation for what the church can be in your life and in the world; to let go of false pictures of a perfect church and commit to the true picture of a powerful church (filled with weak people!).

• Good and Evil (Part 1): to give you the truth you need to answer questions concerning the fact that we live in an evil world.

• Good and Evil (Part 2): to enable you to live in victory over evil and Satan in one specific thought, in one specific habit, in one specific relationship, in one specific problem.

• The Afterlife (Part 1): to give you a deep understanding and gratitude for God’s rescue from the certainty of an eternity without him; to change the way you think about yourself and others: from a focus on the here and now to a focus on eternity.

• The Afterlife (Part 2): to experience joy; to decide to live in the light of eternity in one significant way

• The Second Coming (Part 1): to see the Second Coming not as a source of confusion or fear but as a source of hope.

• The Second Coming (Part 2): to decide to live in anticipation of Jesus’ Second Coming in one significant way. 

• Wrap-Up Study: to map out eleven personal ways you want to live the truths that we’ve learned together from God’s Word.