I Know Your Deeds - Revelation 2:2

Rev 2:2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 

 He knows, for all things are before Him. There is no hiding place, no cover of darkness between Him and us. We are fully revealed before His eyes. Not everything is as it might appear to our eyes. Not everyone is whom they say they are. Sometimes this is deliberate, misguided, or just a mark of confusion.

To test something or someone, there has to be a frame of reference. The Lord is our frame of reference and His word connects us to His light, our guiding star. Without His Spirit there is no way to discern between spirits, for this is a gift of the Spirit. The only way to know something is false is to know the truth.

This church is commended for their testing and discernment of falsehood. It is because they have been exposed to and know the truth that makes this possible.

1 John 4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

1 Corinthians 12:10-11 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines 


2 Corinthians 11:13 For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light 


 Matthew 7:15-16 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 


 1 Timothy 1:6-7 Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk 7 They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.