What does God think of Christians who focus only on experience and ignore doctrine?
God is not pleased when believers forget doctrine and talk only about experience. Doctrine comes by faith, and faith plus doctrine produces experience. Experience must not replace faith or doctrine; it is not going to fly because the foundation is faith—the God-given ability to believe what God says.
Les explains that a listener asked whether hearing so much about experiences meant they were taking the place of faith. Les answered, absolutely. He teaches that we must begin with doctrine, and doctrine comes by faith. When faith plus doctrine is in place, then experience follows. But too many people forget doctrine and talk about nothing but experience. That will not fly, and God is not pleased with it. The starting point is faith, a major God-given gift: the ability and power to believe what God says. That belief is the whole basis of studying and understanding the Word of God. Les also cautions that this does not mean bringing Old Testament instructions given to Israel, such as Malachi's storehouse gifts or animal sacrifices, into operation.