By what is said . In my early years as a believer, I felt many Christian testimonies gave an inflated view of Christian experience. I discovered the people giving testimonies often felt pressure to shore up what was, in many cases, a lackluster encounter with God. Inflated testimonies encourage others to subtly lie, and they promote a dishonest church. By what is promised .
Churches can fall into promising too much.
For example, some paint an idealistic view of the first-century church. When we talk about the glories of the early church, we fail to realize that the Epistles were written to churches that were not living out biblical principles. Not long ago a Christian musician gave a concert in our church. Throughout the evening, he made references to the need for revival. But as I listened to him, I was left with the impression that the purpose of the Christian life was to follow the shekinah glory of revival from place to place.