Do we learn more from our successes or our failures? Almost every man in the room said failures. So why are so many Christian men still afraid to fail?

In this episode of Deeper in the Red, James and Gene welcome back Pastor Sal Sberna, who brought this month's message on how to fail forward. Sal points out that nearly every major figure in Scripture had a major failure - without David's fall there is no Psalm 51 - and that failure is not proof God stopped loving you. It is pruning: a pruned vineyard looks like a field of stumps months before it hangs heavy with grapes.

Gene admits he never raises his hand asking God for the valley, and Sal agrees: embrace the suck, but don't pray for it. James turns to James 1 - consider it pure joy - because joy is not the same as happiness: every trial chisels away something in us that does not look like Christ. Sal adds that the right prayer is not "why poor pitiful me" but "Lord, what do you want out of this?"

Then Sal gets personal: as a young pastor he wanted a megachurch, got it, and found he did not want it. His conclusion is the heart of the episode: the key to any success is obedience. Jesus never said if you love me, build a great church. He said if you love me, obey my commandments. And Sal points to Peter, who went where Jesus said he could not follow and years later wrote, clothe yourselves with humility.

From there, James asks the question every leader wrestles with: where does holy patience end and delayed disobedience begin? Sal answers with a sweet tea story and Mark 1, where Jesus prays early in the morning and, when the disciples hunt Him down, moves on to the next town. Later, Sal asks what changes when you talk openly about Christ at work. For James, the answer came the day his daughter looked up at him in church and said, "Daddy, that's what you do."

In this episode:
00:00 - Welcome back: Pastor Sal Sberna joins us
00:57 - Why we call it Operating in the Red
02:38 - Do we learn more from success or failure?
03:19 - Why Christians are afraid to fail
04:38 - Pruning: stumps before the grapes
06:01 - How do you fail forward?
06:37 - Embrace the suck, but don't pray for the valley
07:57 - James 1: consider it pure joy
09:33 - Sal on James 1: testing produces endurance
11:59 - Failures are the setups for our successes
14:26 - Sal: I wanted to build a megachurch
15:26 - The key to any success is obedience
16:51 - When God gives you exactly what you asked for
18:57 - Peter: where I am going, you cannot follow
20:37 - Clothe yourselves with humility
21:24 - James 4: what if today is your last tomorrow?
23:45 - Holy patience or delayed disobedience?
26:04 - The sweet tea story: learning God's nudge
27:26 - Mark 1: Jesus prays, then leaves the crowd
30:55 - Sal rates his own prayer life a 4 out of 10
32:43 - The unforced rhythms of grace
34:39 - Early mornings: awake at 2 a.m.? Pray
37:19 - Discipline is a group exercise
41:07 - What changes when you talk about Christ at work?
46:12 - Gene: dual accountability, iron sharpens iron
51:39 - "Daddy, that's what you do"
55:08 - Mat carriers and an answered prayer
58:16 - From megachurch pastor to front-line shepherding
1:00:07 - The Human Spirit Project
1:02:19 - Closing prayer: the throne of grace

Scripture in this episode: Psalm 51, Psalm 32:1-2, James 1:2-5, 1 Corinthians 10:12, John 14:15, Matthew 11:28-30, John 13:36-38, Matthew 26:51-52, 69-75, 1 Peter 5:5-6, James 4:13-15, Mark 1:29-38, Ephesians 5:18, Genesis 2:18, Hebrews 10:24-25, Proverbs 27:17, Hebrews 4:16

Deeper in the Red is the podcast side of Operating in the Red, a men's Bible study held the first Wednesday of every month.

Why do we sin? Most of us have the answer backwards - and getting it right is the difference between condemnation and freedom.

In this episode of Deeper in the Red, James, Gene and Caleb break down the doctrine of original sin. It starts in Genesis 3, in a garden where everything was good, with a serpent who never argued that God was wrong - he only asked whether God had really said it. Doubt, then denial, then the oldest offer of all: you will be like God.

James walks through the three tactics the enemy used on Eve and still uses on us, and why Adam's passivity - standing there, knowing better, saying nothing - is the part men tend to skip over. Gene pulls the thread nobody wants to pull: God did not have to plant that tree. He knew what would happen. And He already had the solution before the problem existed.

Then comes the statement that reframes everything: we are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners. If that sounds like bad news, James argues it is the opposite. If you doubt it, go babysit a two-year-old - nobody teaches a baby to be angry. Getting the order right kills condemnation, produces humility, and puts you in the only posture that can receive a savior.

The back half is the war after conversion: Romans 7, the chisel and the hammer, why struggling is a good sign, and why the most miserable man alive is not the lost one but the saved one out of fellowship with God.

In this episode:
00:00 - Welcome to the September edition
00:54 - Why we call it Operating in the Red
01:42 - This month: the doctrine of original sin
02:42 - Genesis 3: the man and the woman sin
05:11 - Doubt, deny, desire: how the enemy works
08:03 - God did not have to plant the tree
10:16 - Free will, and why God wanted us to choose
13:38 - Adam was passive, and what that costs men
14:24 - The enemy corrupts good things: authority, money, hobbies
18:06 - Who the serpent actually was
19:27 - Shame, fear, blame, broken relationships
20:09 - Romans 5: why Adam's sin became our problem
22:01 - We sin because we are sinners
22:45 - If you doubt it, go babysit a two-year-old
23:18 - Why that is freedom, not a life sentence
25:09 - It is not your fault, but it is your problem
27:47 - Condemnation vs conviction
29:46 - The most dangerous words: I've got this
30:55 - The war within: Romans 7
35:09 - Sanctification: the chisel, the hammer, the refining of gold
38:02 - Dead men don't fight
39:32 - How to war against sin: pray, confess, repent
42:19 - The most miserable man alive
44:33 - David: restore the joy of my salvation
50:03 - The second Adam: 1 Corinthians 15
55:10 - He never sinned - and we cannot last a morning
58:03 - Revelation 19: the King you are actually following
60:07 - Closing: conviction or condemnation

Scripture in this episode: Genesis 3, Romans 5:12-19, Psalm 51:5, Romans 7:18-25, 1 John 1:8, Psalm 32:3-4, 1 Corinthians 15:21-22, 45, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Revelation 19:12

Deeper in the Red is the podcast side of Operating in the Red, a men's Bible study held the first Wednesday of every month.

What if you never decided to walk away from God - you just quietly drifted?

James, Gene and Caleb open with an honest confession: sitting down to prepare August's men's Bible study, James had a blank page. No topic, no verse, nothing stirring. That blank page became the message. Hebrews 2:1-3 warns us to listen carefully to the truth we have heard, "or we may drift away from it" - and drifting is never a decision. It is what happens when you take your hands off the wheel.

James tells the story of a fishing trip out of Orange Beach: 20 miles offshore, the autopilot pump burned out, the engines locked hard left, and the boat sat dead in the water on a calm, beautiful night. Six hours later the tow boat radioed that they were at his coordinates and could not see him. He had drifted six miles - and never felt it move.

That is the danger. The man who deliberately walks away knows where he stands. The man who drifts has no idea.

In this episode:
00:00 - Welcome back: the August edition after a July break
01:35 - The blank page that became the message
02:23 - Naming it: this is drifting
05:12 - Hebrews 2:1-3 - listen carefully or drift away
07:03 - The fishing trip: autopilot burns out 20 miles offshore
10:28 - "Sir, you are not here" - six miles off course
11:32 - Walking away vs. drifting: which is more dangerous
13:25 - No compass, no progress - running in circles
14:17 - Ezekiel's dry bones: the enemy does not dry your bones overnight
16:43 - It was not storming - calm water hides the drift
17:58 - What is your check engine light
19:24 - Warning signs: short patience, harsh words, a hopeless outlook
21:54 - Build the plan before you need it
25:32 - James 4:8 - come close to God and He will come close to you
27:25 - Luke 15:20 - the father ran to him
28:23 - Zechariah 1:3 - return to me and I will return to you
29:54 - What is God calling you back to this week
32:03 - The fruit of the Spirit as your gauge - and asking your wife

The question we left the men with, and the one we leave with you: what is God calling you back to this week?

If you are on the mountaintop right now and none of this is you - fantastic. That is the best time to write your plan. Pick the book, pick the chapter, put it in your notes app, so the day the warning light comes on you already know where to go.

Verses referenced: Hebrews 1, Hebrews 2:1-3 | James 4:8 | Luke 15:20 | Zechariah 1:3 | Ezekiel 37 (dry bones) | Galatians 5:22-23