The Apostle John continues to bring encouragement to Christians struggling in churches with false teachers proclaiming Gnostic doctrines, sexual immorality, and that Jesus did not come in the flesh.

John writes at a time between Paul's prophecy found in Acts 20:28-31a...

"Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard!"

...and the time of the great Revelation and the Seven Churches of Asia Minor found in the 2nd and 3rd chapters of Revelation.

The other apostles are probably dead. John is writing about 90-95 a.d. when John's First Epistle was penned. He is old, and he wants to help true Christians know with surety that they are saved and children of God. He writes this in 1 John 5:13 ~

"I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life."

To achieve this assurance, John presents a series of tests. They fall into two categories: doctrinal tests and behavioral tests.

In our last study on Spiritual Growth, the young Christian is said to have "overcome the evil one." What does that mean? And, what does it have to do with a Christian's attitude toward the world "and anything in the world"? Join us today for a look at the Apostle John's teaching on the subject in 1 John 2:14-17.