All Christian share a common foundation regardless of church, denomination, tradition, or ecclesiology.  Regardless of which community a Christian participates in, there is a common foundation that every believer shares.  The chapter summaries below are intended to serve as a guide to assist fellow believers in growing their faith, understanding what they believe, understanding why they believe, and training in order to articulate our faith to others.

What does it mean to be a disciple?  What does it mean to make disciples?    When someone begins to walk with God, there are some foundational beliefs that are central to our faith that need to take root in our heart and minds to brings about spiritual growth and eventually bear fruit (Matt. 13:23).  This is not a systematic theology for discipleship, but it will largely overlap with our primary doctrines.  Our theology should be interwoven with our faith as biblical theology is the system of truth that God has revealed for us to know Him, to know the way of salvation, to embrace our calling in the Great Commission, to cultivate Christian virtue in order to love well, and to be the hands, feet, and mouthpiece for Jesus in this dying world.

To follow is a list of each chapter and brief statement of the reason this is foundational to your life of faith:

1. Genesis 1 – Literal 6 Day Creation by God

It will be important to understand the creation account in order to develop a consistent Biblical theology.  Creation is topic addressed throughout scripture, often in reference to the power of God and many attributes of God.  In scripture we see that Jesus speaks of creation and quotes Genesis as well as many other writers of scripture. It is also important to see the love of God in creation.  When we understand the great care that has gone into the design of creation, the ample varieties of life, vegetation, water, and food sources, we can see that God has intended to give us a world that would meet all of our needs.  Understanding creation also helps us build community, value human dignity, value life, see the value of every person, share the gospel with every person we encounter, and love people by seeing them as God sees them, we can begin to understand that our spiritual formation is tied to creation.  Our faith, our doctrines, our prayer life, and our engagement in the world are all impacted by the understanding that God created everything with intentionality.  The world largely chooses to place their faith in the religion of evolution as an explanation for life, but that system of thought is found quite lacking when critical analysis is applied.  Scripture, science and philosophy all provide devastating challenging to the religion of evolution.  It is important to note that all philosophies of origin are taken by faith, however we can evaluate all of the available information and inductively determine which idea to take by faith.

2. Psalm 51 – Repentance and Forgiveness

When the Lord Jesus was asked how often we should forgive a person, He replied 70×7, another way of saying that forgiveness has no limits.  The forgiveness of God cannot be exhausted and is readily available to every person who seeks it.  But it is important to understand that in order to receive forgiveness, repentance is required.  That simply means that there is a true desire in the heart of a person to turn away from the action or deeds for which forgiveness is sought.  A person may feel regret or remorse, but it is the sorrow that produces repentance without regret that leads to salvation (2Corinthians 7:10).  In Psalm 51, King David is expressing sorrow for committing adultery, and then covering it up with murder.  He writes this prayer asking God to restore him, cleanse his wicked heart, and pleading with God to not abandon him after he broke fellowship with God in pursuit of sin.  Psalm 51 is a humbling word of encouragement for those of us who have become aware of our sin and do our best to walk with God.  Sometimes it is really easy to get buried in shame, guilt and regret and find it hard to look up, but we must know that God welcomes us back, wants to restore us, and wants to forgive us.  God enjoys forgiving us more than we love to sin, so it is important to know that we can always come back to the cross of Christ.  The devil and his demons will seek to push us down and never seek repentance, but God is calling us back.  We are sons and daughters, a relationship that is not abolished by our foolish ways, but we must humble ourselves, repent, and return to God!

3. Isaiah 53 – The Crucifixion

For anyone who is truly in Union with Christ (Born Again), it is quite difficult to read this chapter and not have our hearts stirred by the account of what Christ endured for our redemption.  It is quite easy for us to become numb to the gospel after hearing it so many times, but the weight of the gospel must stay with us on our journey home.  We are called to share in the fellowship of His suffering, something that most of us will not experience physically, but in a very real and visceral way, we do step into the fellowship in our Union with Christ (Philippians 3:10).

4. 1Corinthians 15 – The Resurrection

Christianity is set apart as the truth among all religions of the world by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  This is the primary truth claim of Christians and what makes this unique is that the resurrection is historically verifiable, and the resurrection is a miracle!  In 1Corinthians 15, the Apostle Paul lays out the definitive apologetic on our primary truth claim!

5. John 3 – Our Salvation

The gospel is simple for the those who will hear.  The Lord Jesus tells us in John 3 that we must be born again, and we must believe in the only Begotten Son of God.  He states that God has initiated His plan for salvation because of His great love for us.  He also states that those who reject Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior have been judged already!

6. Psalm 23 – Our life with God

As Christians, the Lord is our Shepherd, He is always with us in good times and bad, and He provides for all of our needs.  This is an excellent Psalm to pray through in times of fear, times of uncertainty, or times of praise!  In John 10, we can hear more from Jesus on how He is our Good Shepherd!

7. Romans 8 – Our Eternal Identity

Romans 8 is the ultimate life verse chapter that will serve as an anchor for our faith when doubt creeps in.  It begins with the declaration that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, then we receive the promise of the resurrection, we are informed as to the nature of our relationship with God, Hist Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children adopted into God’s family, He invites us to call him Abba (Daddy), we learn that suffering is temporary and unworthy to be compared with the eternal goodness that awaits us, we learn that the Holy Spirit is praying for us, we see the Sovereign Hand of God

8. Hebrews 11 – Our Heritage of Faith

This chapter is commonly called the Faith Hall of Fame!  This chapter is a great encouragement to all believers, because it shows us that the people we admire in the Old Testament were merely humans like us who had a faithful God like we do!  We can also see that our sin does not disqualify us from being used by God for His temporal and eternal purposes!

9. Psalm 119 – Our Bible

If you claim to be Christian and you do not read your Bible, you are putting yourself in a vulnerable position.  The Bible is the God-breathed revelation of everything that God wants us to know about Himself, ourselves, the world, and our spiritual enemies.  The Bible instructs us that if we know and internalize the Word of God, we will be able to resist sin  (Psalm 119:11); the Bible performs work in us because it is living and active; we are commanded to study the Bible so that we can accurately communicate it (2Timothy 2:15); those who teach scripture will be held to a higher standard (James 3:1); Jesus said that the Word of God is our spiritual nutrition, food for the soul (Matthew 4:4); knowing the Bible will equip us to do what we are called to do such as evangelize, encourage, edify, admonish, correct, restore, and teach (2Timothy 3:16); the Bible teaches us how to interact in relationships, marriage, friendships, business, and family relationships.  DO NOT BE BIBICALLY ILLITERATE!!!

10. 2Corinthians 12 – Our commitment to the Church

Every person has been given gifts and talents by God so that we can contribute to His church and to the social fabric.  God uses the analogy of a body to demonstrate the importance of each body part to the overall health of the Body of Christ!  If you are a Christian, you have a responsibility to be part of the church community. See also Ephesians 4

12. Ephesians 6 – Our Spiritual Warfare

The Christian journey is a life long war!!  If you are not aware of that, then maybe you need to start reading your Bible!  Scripture says we have three enemies to contend with in our desire to live a God honoring life.  We must be mindful of our spiritual adversaries, the devil and his demons.  We are told that our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of darkness.  We are told that the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking those he can devour.  It is important to understand that there are no proportionate responses in Spiritual Warfare, the devil is seeking to cause you to lose your faith, to break fellowship with God in a permanent way, and to neutralize you from being an effective witness for the Lord Jesus Christ.  There are a host of ways that this happens, some are blatant while others can be innocent.  It can be something as simple as busyness, putting career, family, school, and many other things ahead of God.  It can also be ministry, the busyness of servicing God without being in communion with God.  Other times it can be something more pronounced such as dating a non-believer, not reading scripture, not being involved in a church community, or being too influenced by culture.  We cannot forget that the devil often appears as an Angel of Light, appearing good, but only to lure you into his web of evil.  Spiritual Warfare requires great discernment, and the intestinal fortitude to stand up against the cultural pressures to rebel against God!  One example is the rise of occultism in America over the last few decades.  Often occultic practices, which are satanic, are often pass along as entertainment.  The most popular is astrology, which millions of Americans checking their horoscope daily.  In addition to that we see mainstream toy companies like Parker Bros. selling Ouija Boards, which is a black magic tool to summons demons.  Other black arts from the satanic kingdom that are gaining popularity include Tarot Card Reading, Psychometry, Palmistry, Seances, and transcendental meditation or astral projection.  It is not surprising that those who are lost would pursue such practices, but the Christian has no business engaging in these occultic practices!

13. James 2 – Our Faith Applied 

Show me your faith by your works!  The Christian who is growing in holiness, being formed in the image of Christ, will naturally produce the fruit of the spirit which will manifest as good works towards our neighbors and all of community.  As Christians, we do these things because we are Christian, these acts of charity do not make us Christian.  If we are seeking to become more like Jesus, this must also include being a servant to others (Mark 10:45).