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A new D&D podcast from a Christian perspective.
Josh Shaw 0:20
Think I'm hitting the point, as we record this podcast where the coffee that was previously inside of my bloodstream has now depleted.
Tony Benda 0:33
Do we need more coffee?
Josh Shaw 0:34
And now I am? No, absolutely not. Because now one of my shackles can be coffee sometimes.
Tony Benda 0:45
It's funny, you mentioned that we're just, what
Josh Shaw 0:47
about shackles? One of my shackles is coffee. And I'm not, I'm not gonna lie. There may be a small addiction that I have to coffee in a coffee too. I think a lot of America is. And I remember sitting at work one time, and it was like you're addicted to coffee. And I was like, No, I'm not. So I proceeded to go on the National Institute of Health and proceed to invest an unwarranted amount of time. Reading why black coffee is good for me. That's awesome. And immediately I was convicted with the thought of I should stop drinking coffee. So I only drink two cups a day now. Amen.
Tony Benda 1:30
I'm down to two as well. And what's really funny is my brain just locked on this for a minute. You just said NIH. And this is the second episode in a row. Where we've discussed there's no way
Josh Shaw 1:43
this is funny. Episode Three, we talked about it. We talked about and it was great way to introduce the episode. Seriously though. Hi, everyone. Hello. I mean, this is so natural. This is how we're gonna start. Welcome to Episode Four for episode. Can you believe Tony, four episodes in? I'm
Tony Benda 2:01
still shook. It shook us. That's one of my favorite memes or likes GIFs. I should say gifs or GIFs? You decide. I still say GIF.
Josh Shaw 2:10
I mean, if it's GIF, peanut, all I get
Tony Benda 2:13
is anyway, my favorite GIF. Is that woman in who's sitting in the car? And she says I am sure GIF. And just is so expressive with it. And that's one of my favorite gifts anyway. But yeah, I'm sure that it's episode four. And here we are. I don't think we introduced ourselves last time. I'm Tony Benda, for those who don't know who we are.
Josh Shaw 2:36
By now. We will also know that you are Tony Bender, and my name is Joshua Shaw. Yep. And I you know, I really think we may have dropped the ball on that one because I think the other did we even introduce ourselves neither. So
Tony Benda 2:49
while we did an episode one and two, did we Yeah, I think so. Oh, we'll have to go back and listen to ourselves.
Josh Shaw 2:56
You ever just kind of afraid to listen to your own voice?
Tony Benda 2:59
I am all the time. See, I
Josh Shaw 3:01
don't understand that your worship leader. Okay, but that that's beside the point. Like, for those that don't know, Tony Bender is part of the bender family, a family that their mom was like, I don't understand why your voices are so beautiful. But every one of them and it's in a room is like a choir of angels. He I mean, Laura. He's Laura. Laura is an amazing singer. She's great. Tony leads worship at a church. Yep. Aaron, his brother leads worship with his wife, who also leads worship. Yep. And the four of you together is like hearing a choir of majestic angels coming down. Yeah, I am blessing my soul.
Tony Benda 3:43
I am grateful for that lovely compliment.
Josh Shaw 3:46
I'm grateful for his gift.
Tony Benda 3:49
I'm grateful that we got to do a worship night. That's so may 19. That was That was fun. The
Josh Shaw 3:55
crazy part is these episodes came from that night.
Tony Benda 4:00
That's so funny. I remember you mentioning that as we're sitting in shout out by the way to crema brew in New Bern, North Carolina. Absolutely. We jot it down all of our notes for episodes three and four. Back to Back sitting in crema brew while enjoying their lovely soup special their service. So that day it was it was a Friday. So it was Thai chicken and rice. It was delicious. Thank
Josh Shaw 4:28
you. Good. You know, and I would say that's probably going to be our spot. I think so. I think it's gonna be it's
Tony Benda 4:34
not sweet. Annie's in Bay borough my mom's place which is yeah, I always have to shut them out because I get free coffee and mom is amazing. If it's not sweet 80s It might be crema brew. Yeah.
Josh Shaw 4:47
I mean, truly, I love it. Just the environment in which you can come in and just write and just be you. Yep, it's amazing. Their music
Tony Benda 4:55
is excellent. They were playing Lord of the Rings over the they really weren't it blew my mind. And I found out that we share a common theme. Literally so nerd what's what's his, their their family name is zyk I think right? Yes, Z. Okay. Yep. That's my character's name. And I did not no correlation, no correlation whatsoever. I like, that has to be our spot. Like, just I don't know what else to say. But like, do you didn't know that before?
Josh Shaw 5:26
Do you think you'll ever develop the courage to go to that family and say, Hey, I just want to let you know, we've been writing a podcast in here for several maybe months, year i Who knows? And then you'll be like, my character that unnamed in d&d is named Zuck. And they'll probably just laugh at you and be like, okay. Yeah, what do you think they'll do? I have no idea. I would love to experience that. I would love to experience that to
Tony Benda 5:53
me to grab some courage and go have a conversation with that family. I heard they're an incredible family in sweet Nubian family, and they've been around for a while and I want to know more about the story of crema brew, do a documentary about that. That'd be fun. That would be a lot of fun. Actually.
Josh Shaw 6:08
You said something, though. You said the ticket the courage to Yeah. Kind of ties in a little bit. Yeah.
Tony Benda 6:18
I'm not like an outgoing people person. But yet to get the courage. How does that tie into where I was with jazz? I'm really curious now. Especially oh, what this episode is called
Josh Shaw 6:28
Let me recap Episode Three first, go for it. Episode Three, for those who have not listened yet. was all about rest. And titled DM did we long rest? Because the two biggest questions before any d&d campaign one shot anything? Did we level up? And did we long rescue? Even if you know you didn't, you still got to ask the DM to just annoy his socks. That's
Tony Benda 6:53
right, just for that irritated look on his face,
Josh Shaw 6:56
but we explored what it truly means to long rest and short rest within a campaign and if you didn't understand that, we also kind of detailed what it means to regain health points, ability scores, all these things and how to effectively utilize your long rests. Yep. But we also talked about what it means to rest biblically. We explored what it means to Shabbat to stop and to Nuuk, which means to be brought into the presence of consoled by the loving father.
Tony Benda 7:31
That's good. But go listen.
Josh Shaw 7:35
I think there's something that keeps us from rest. So does rest does this but this can also keep us from rest. What would that be? That would be being our prompt, Episode Title stuck in shackles.
Tony Benda 7:57
Cue Mary Mary.
Take the SACCOs out mafi so I can go you
Josh Shaw 8:02
I love it. I love it. No. Yeah, of course. I know.
Tony Benda 8:06
Do you finally Okay. Who was it the other day that didn't know this song.
Josh Shaw 8:10
It was me. Was it? Yeah, you you made fun of me. CREAMER brew. And so I'm sorry. No, this
Tony Benda 8:16
song No, for real, like growing up in the 90s shackles was one of the biggest songs. And Mary Mary just killed it.
Take the shackles off my feet so I can dance. I just found a phrase
Josh Shaw 8:28
for the record. Tony is not doing this in worship. He is really singing about Jesus during worship. That's true. Now I will say he did the lyrical line to pure imagination where the worship night okay,
Tony Benda 8:38
I don't remember if somebody did. I don't remember playing here. But he did. But it may have. It may have maybe it was just your
Josh Shaw 8:45
imagination, perhaps. But stuck in shackles is what we're going to be talking about today. And what does that, Tony? What does that mean from a d&d perspective?
Tony Benda 9:00
Well, from a d&d perspective, it's kind of difficult because it's gonna be fun. You and I both know that it's hard to really do anything in the game. When you're stuck in shackles, your character can't move anywhere you're, you know, bound in the sense that like, you can't physically move in. I don't know, like shackles are literally exactly that they're manacles. They're shackles. They're wrapped around your wrist around your feet. You're tied down. You are bonded to a structure you are. I don't know. You literally are stuck. Stuck in shack like stuck. As to UK stuck.
Josh Shaw 9:43
But it's name. I mean, when I think about shackles, I think about the way a d&d campaign starts most of the time. What does it start like ours? Anyone? Got to start in a tavern? Are you stuck handcuffed to something
Tony Benda 9:59
There's many ways to start and we've started in shackles we literally
Josh Shaw 10:04
started our campaign in shackles on a boat not knowing anybody
Tony Benda 10:09
in the dark in the dark lower level of a ship and we were four random characters somehow brought together and shackled to by to each other into the the I don't know pillars the the support beams on the ship.
Josh Shaw 10:26
So what was your first reaction?
Tony Benda 10:28
I was like What in the world is going on? How okay. My character's backstory is that he's from an island card, an island called Dark tow Island, which is a I don't know piratey themed Island. What's pretty neat about it is like, there's boats there's, you know, a group called the revelry, which comes from there, there's I don't know, this is this is part of the Alexandria world. For those who don't know that structure, so I don't know being on a ship is normal for my character. However, being shackled is not to a stranger in the dark below a deck on a ship is not normal for my character. So that was a little bizarre. What was going through my mind is okay, why am I here? Who brought me here? How do I get out? And should I even try getting no
Josh Shaw 11:31
wait, you are actually going to stay in shackles depending
Tony Benda 11:34
on if I'm fed and watered and I'm safe and interesting. My characters and intellectual character like from the thought process of like, okay, I'm restrained. Why am I restrained in my is it for my safety isn't for someone else's safety is it for I don't know, bro. It's
Josh Shaw 11:53
weird because like, so you really actually like played played the character? That
Tony Benda 11:57
was my goal. Wow. I mean, role playing at its finest will not That's not me saying it's just trying to roleplay fine. Sure, trying to be I'm trying to be in character when I was playing sick that very sure.
Josh Shaw 12:10
Tony, for those who are listening just compared himself to better role playing then like critical role.
Tony Benda 12:16
No, I would never He just did. No, I heard it. Maybe. No, my goal was full immersion from the start. I wanted to I wanted to be in character as much as I can. So I don't know. Like, as we're going through this whole campaign, like obviously, we got out the shackles because we're 40 Something sessions in at this point. And what's fun about it is like we're learning things about ourselves that could scare people. Like I'm finding out that my character has abilities or powers or some sort of tie in to the overall storyline through my family somehow, and I have no idea what that means. So am I a chosen 1am i A my some bloodline that needs to be used for some dark magic down the road to unlock the potential. I don't I don't like I don't know. See.
Josh Shaw 13:10
i That's crazy to me that you are going through the minus as a character because when my first character was we're not going to talk about that they'll set anyway continue my first characters dumber than a sack of rocks. Yeah. The dude was big and was like, wanted to Hulk smash everything. So you were thinking from this intellectual level, I was like, Well, I'm angry. I'm upset. Get me out of here. And I tried to break the shackles in half I tried to roll a strength to my first role that campaign was to break the shackles I literally did rolling to break out my strength was I rolled a 19
Tony Benda 13:52
year guy reminded me of grog from critical role.
Josh Shaw 13:57
Oh my god, girl. That was so good.
Tony Benda 14:01
Great. Okay. It's hard to get that deep on not really a boat but grow girl. Group meeting Grog. There we go. Okay, got it. Now.
Josh Shaw 14:09
That was good.
Tony Benda 14:10
And close. There's a little there's a hollowness of the voice they still can't get any matter.
Josh Shaw 14:14
He basically just said I'm better than Matt Mercer.
Tony Benda 14:16
No, Lord no. So Kanan was very much a grog type character big brawny can bust through walls kind of yet he
Josh Shaw 14:27
was beautiful. Oh, he was truly beautiful man. The
Tony Benda 14:30
women loved him too. Oh
Josh Shaw 14:33
don't talk about we're not talking about the caravan stop.
Tony Benda 14:36
No, we're not we're just that's a
Josh Shaw 14:38
loot Okay, to listeners that is alluding to something that you may not think have happened. But Kanan was very sad. He was sad. He just wanted someone to love him. Yeah,
Tony Benda 14:50
he was looking for love. He was kept getting turned down in in different spots and then like
Josh Shaw 14:57
he wasn't into orcs either. And Stevens apparently was just having a bit on orcs the whole time. But the reason my character wanted to break out of shackles was because of his past. Yes. He was so distraught by like, the character background and then I had designed for him that being stuck in shackles is that of his nature. I mean, he was part of the it gives me chills talking about that, that faction, yeah.
Tony Benda 15:27
Oh, it's so creepy. But it's so good. Because it's this like, overarching group of I don't know, criminals are the criminals are they? They're
Josh Shaw 15:39
like, they're not criminals.
Tony Benda 15:43
power hungry. They're
Josh Shaw 15:44
power hungry mercenaries. Okay. That's what they are. Okay. Why am I to be honest with you? I'm blanking on the name though. The mirror the mirror? Yeah, I was literally sitting here. I was like, why can I remember their power? So Kanan was part of the myriad which is this, this group that was put into the backstory? And I mean, he was used abused. Yeah. But, um, was obedient to their, to their purposes. And the whole campaign was while he was alive, was trying to get back to them. But then, even just through the shackled moments, like cannon was connecting to the party already on the ship. Because of the the deep core of it. He just wanted a family. And he found family and then he died.
Tony Benda 16:30
No, it's so sad. We're gonna have to write. I think truly after this campaign is done. We're going to sit down compile our notes and write we need to write a book about
Josh Shaw 16:43
considering how many pages of notes I have on this. Short me. Okay, for those honestly. For those listening, I'm very note oriented individual. Yes. And I learned that early in my d&d playing. A lot of people were gonna first like, take, take good notes, take good notes, take notes. So I over did,
Tony Benda 17:03
oh, my goodness, when I say yes, that's an understatement.
Josh Shaw 17:07
Hold up nine, pull up my notes, please do because I want to get I want to get the accurate understanding of how much notes I truly
Tony Benda 17:14
have. I have about a page per session, page per session. A lot of them I even skipped, skipped a few sessions of notes, because it jumped from like 34 to like 41 in terms of my session notes, because I remember a lot of stuff in my head. And then I feel like I'm so involved with some of it that I so like, totally forget to take notes at the time. But fortunately, we have a lovely, lovely DM. Stephen, who does give us a you know, quick synopsis of the last session or two. And I'm right back where we were two weeks prior. And I don't know, maybe that's enough for me. I know a lot. A lot of people take copious notes like Josh over there, who's I'm trying to find looking at his, you know, pretty much Bible of I'm literally trying to find the word count 700 pages of
Josh Shaw 18:13
okay, it's 700
Tony Benda 18:15
I'm sorry, 672 pages of notes over there from your series. It's fantastic.
Josh Shaw 18:22
I don't want to move on for this podcast until I actually disclose how much I actually have on here. So in our campaign alone, I currently have 27,241 words. And where I'm currently sitting at 85 pages I am sure
Tony Benda 18:55
I am sure give that's a that's a novella right there.
Josh Shaw 19:00
It would take 190 minutes to read. That's what we're that's what that's what he's saying. But all that to say that's just that's just what I just what I do is like me as I just I just taken take notes and how, how I can remember those things and why honestly, it's a little bit easier to kind of write these things out sometimes and do this podcast like with those things? Yeah, but Tony, yes. Something I do want to talk about. I want to use our out of game imagination. Okay. Outside of our first experience of shackles, I want to talk about if we got stuck in shackles, what is the most creative way we would escape? He's flexing right now he's been preparing for this moment. Now. I will preface it with this. You can make up whatever story you want. But there is one story you will tell what stories that you will tell how you almost got murdered. I have it. I have it right here in Ankara. Oh Lord, you will tell that story. You weren't stuck in shackles but I'm telling you, you are either going to die or go to prison and you will tell that story. I will let you say, however you would get out of shackles. But you will be telling that story on this. Okay.
Tony Benda 20:20
Okay. Um, I think how I would how I would get out of shackles. Um, I don't know we were discussing some of the crazy ways you can do it like obviously you could do something with strength you can do something with depending on your character level you can do something with a misty step or a teleport spell or some sort of way to get yourself out using magic. Like what we read it we read somewhere it was it on
Josh Shaw 20:52
Reddit about you might even read poison. Someone was cast someone on level zero we're like a cantrip make hasta nakshatra of acid splash on a padlock.
Tony Benda 21:02
Which is hilarious.
Josh Shaw 21:03
That's creative. Yes,
Tony Benda 21:05
it's very green. Because if it was a padlock and you had enough of the hitpoints to do the damage to said bad luck, then yeah, you can get out of your stinking shackles. Okay. The DM would be rolling his eyes because you can cast that cantrip as many times as you want.
Josh Shaw 21:21
Yes, that's the beautiful thing about cantrips you can cast as much as you want to
Tony Benda 21:25
two levels zero spells so that means you can really cast it 1000 times if you wanted to. But you also got to be careful the repercussions because the padlock close your skin is it close to like yeah,
Josh Shaw 21:38
I would I would be that petty GM Oh, I
Tony Benda 21:40
would do if you're gonna cast it 20 times give me a constitution check every time give me some three points
Josh Shaw 21:45
of damage every time you
Tony Benda 21:50
you roll your roll attack? No you roll acid splash damage on the padlock and you roll acid splash damage on yourself.
Josh Shaw 22:00
Yeah,
Tony Benda 22:01
every time. So if that padlock is taken 10 hit points, you're taking 10 hit points. Good luck, kid.
Josh Shaw 22:08
So I haven't really played a whole lot of characters that use magic, but this is how to escape. And just just honestly, it comes from your brother's characters inspiration. Cool. You would best believe that I would try to wild shape into some kind of animal and crawl my way out of this person
Tony Benda 22:31
or like a snake or like a bird or I mean,
Josh Shaw 22:35
can you turn into a spider? I think so I would crawl out as a spider. I just roll my way up. Yeah, just walk my way out.
Tony Benda 22:41
armadillo,
Josh Shaw 22:43
armadillo. But see, then the fun thing is, is when the wild shape loses its effect. Yeah. And you're in the middle. This person like what am I gonna do? I think of like that Skyrim stealth. And you're just like, how am I going to still find a way out of this? And pray that I just roll a ton of that. 20s. Yep. And somehow the DM gets creative of how I just slip past this guard a guard without seeing me. Yeah. Which Tony? Actually, actually do we do. We want to read how our friends that he would get out of shackles.
Tony Benda 23:18
I think we can do it. We've mentioned him in every episode.
Josh Shaw 23:22
So literally every episode, he is that infamous
Tony Benda 23:26
and he brings this much joy to our lives really? I say go for it. Let's read it. So.
Josh Shaw 23:32
So to give a context. Very short snippet. Yes, Jeric. His name is crayon in our campaign and he carries well, he can cast a spell to where he can have bring a horse. And his horses name is Miss Jones. It's
Tony Benda 23:48
something it's something like a familiar or something. Yeah.
Josh Shaw 23:51
So Stephen likes to play that voice is mischief which honestly, if you want to know my favorite character, probably in our campaign, it's mischief. Yeah. But so we text we texted a lot of people and we're like, you know, what's the funniest way you would escape? And we didn't get the responses we were hoping for no problem. But shared never ceases to fail. What? When he does this? That's right. So so jerick texts us just before we record and says on the former like how would you escape from prison jerk he's a crayon will go invisible in his chains and have his wrists lying on the ground. Like he has escaped when someone comes in and notice this city would choke them unconscious with the chains which Jericho has progressed because he didn't say would kill them. That's true. Just go unconscious just unconscious.
Tony Benda 24:46
It's that surprise checking someone out with it is fine to escape. That's fantastic.
Josh Shaw 24:51
He said if no one comes in I will pick the lock with the claws I have or if that fails, then I will use an eco night to strike off my chains. Way to go Which is funny because wouldn't you just put the echo nine outside of the door and then just swap places?
Tony Benda 25:06
That's another clever way to do it. Sure.
Josh Shaw 25:09
And this is once escaped. I will shackle I will. What do you say? I will shackle mischief with the chains as the distractions turn invisible it's still my way. Oh, Korean.
Tony Benda 25:22
Why mud shackles Korean
Josh Shaw 25:26
Korean bomber why my legs and shackles Korea Korea I'm scared my leg Why am I in this room? Man? I just want to be with you.
Tony Benda 25:39
And that's the voice ladies and gentlemen.
Josh Shaw 25:41
We can't do it as good as Steven. Yeah,
Tony Benda 25:44
that's it's very close to what Stephen does as mischief. It's hilarious. Okay, our new favorite NPC so Tony.
Josh Shaw 25:50
Yes. Now, I'm putting you on the spot. Oh, Lord, help us to breathe to bring a context before Tony describes this craziness. We were at a place called the crystal chateau. Now I want to pay. I want everybody all the listeners to keep in mind. This is coming off of a very emotional moment. We were angry and upset. Do you remember what was the exact context?
Tony Benda 26:26
So we had just I think we had just gotten attacked or something like that. I wish I remembered. Look at your notes. What happened? What happened contextually speaking, and
Josh Shaw 26:38
actually speaking only remember when we were doing one in the one on one session not even was
Tony Benda 26:42
It was great. Whatever it was, it was great. facility.
Josh Shaw 26:46
I think I found that thing. It's 41 Yes, I have it. So it was session. So session 4040 or 40 Well, so I'm kind of building up to it. So session 40 that we had we just gotten to the place we've gotten the Balmoral God that time. And we I think we found the found like the wizard or the professor at the time inside of that. Can we as we were kind of navigating and Kreon went into that like, like water, like through that doorway and then had to pick up some scroll. So we were fighting. We bring somebody we found this letter and it said fine and obtain the key to the Nether deep at all costs. We received that letter once we once we killed this individual. So then we go back and our way was blocked. It had been destroyed. And the two rhodium sharks were in the way. That's right. So already mad, already beaten, already upset. We had our blue pills. And we were like, Let's pop them we're gonna go back up to the surface
Tony Benda 28:00
teleportation pills.
Josh Shaw 28:00
So crayon decides to not do that. That's right since his echo night across this like, Oh, he's a little chasm in front of two rhodium sharks that are well, well beyond strong. Yes,
Tony Benda 28:15
they would have wiped him out.
Josh Shaw 28:16
So as we take our blue pills, crayon distilled down there, and we found out eventually makes it to the other side. But the problem was that where we reappeared these were teleportation pills that came up to the surface. We were down maybe 300 400 feet into this kind of cavern type thing. We reappear. I get out first, Zook comes, then Elroy comes and crayons not there yet. So in the minds of the character Kreon died. And all we remember is him saying I'm gonna swim across by these rhodium sharks. So already frustrated, and it is midnight and we're beaten and we're battered. What did we do? Let's go into the consortium. And let's go find headmaster because we got to show this to him right now. What we found because that person had betrayed the allegiance Oh, I'm sorry. It's the Legion is also not the consortium. Yeah. So we go back to the allegiance we go back to the allegiance angle going in there saying like, Listen, this person that you sent us to find actually betrayed you. Here's this know what is? That's what it was. We found we found out what the nether deep was yes. Or at least the first mention at least the first mention of it.
Tony Benda 29:27
Okay, for those who don't know what we're talking about. There's a there's a d&d story out there called called another deep.
Josh Shaw 29:34
It's a full campaign.
Tony Benda 29:36
It's a full campaign. You can get the book, go to d&d beyond you can order it there or really any bookstore go to your local gaming store, you could probably get called another deep which is awesome so far. So Steven, our DM has been using the base storyline, but also homebrewing a lot in our campaign. Great and he's been blending it and it's been incredible. So yeah, from there continue.
Josh Shaw 29:58
So that's another Deep Survey. Go into the lesions of off site we bust in Now I wouldn't say bust and we walked in and we see a guard standing outside of him masterpieces office and we're like hey, we've got something to tell it like and master is we need to see him right? Like right now. But the guard go so the guard was like no we're not going to him like no we need to see him like right now frustrated he comes out he come back out and lets us know like headmaster's are actually not even not even there and they're going to come back in the morning. Yes.
Tony Benda 30:27
We apparently we they
Josh Shaw 30:31
were going to come back in the morning like they are just sleeping. They're basically the DM was basically like just go rest. long rest.
Tony Benda 30:43
And then come back shout out to our last episode long rescue.
Josh Shaw 30:46
So rather than listening and to the dismay of of Aaron's character, Elroy, Tony will now proceed to tell you exactly what Zuko decided to do instead. So you better not leaving out you
Tony Benda 31:08
can, you can fill in my guests because this is again, me not taking copious amounts of notes like you do. And I think it's wonderful that you did because I totally forgot about this. So instead of listening to the guard, who you know, I should have probably listened to oh, you should but I didn't like how do I know that this guard is not a bad dude and saying yeah, headmaster's not back there.
Josh Shaw 31:30
Don't you were already so mad.
Tony Benda 31:32
I was already Yeah, I was irritated in the campaign in Korean may have been dead in I wanted to get to the answers then. There's no time to waste like that was my mentality is that there's no time to waste. So what am i do i i go invisible? I start.
Josh Shaw 31:53
You go invisible? Yes. And you cast darkness over the front door. Yeah, of this hallway. Like the front entrance of this hallway. You open the door. And you go in here to the headmaster. And to this. My
Tony Benda 32:06
goal is to get to the headmaster's office to see if he's in his office. So I cast darkness on the place I go invisible. I sneak around the guards and instantly there's like alarm spells going barricade that kind of pops up around the the headmaster's door, all these guards start pouring into the hallway. And I'm in again I'm invisible. So I'm like, Oh crap. What do I do now? So I tried like because there's darkness still there. There's other you know, spellcasters that are coming out to come, you know, dispel the darkness, so
Josh Shaw 32:40
to speak. And so like so you're traveling in a line? Yeah, they're
Tony Benda 32:44
in a line and they start making their way down the hallway swords drawn? And they're, they're like, DacMagic yes, they're doing the tech magic there and they're encroaching upon my space. I am like, Oh, crap. I can't get through this group of people either have to like turn myself in or apologize or do something else. So I decided to do something else. Please,
Josh Shaw 33:09
please decide. Please lighten the listeners what you actually did. Um, well,
Tony Benda 33:14
so I again, I'm invisible. I have to keep reiterating that point. Reason being is because the TM Stephen gave me the opportunity to roll a was it a self check?
Josh Shaw 33:29
Or was it a he gave me the opportunity to Rolodex checker, a stealth checker, Zola's stealth check. And you because of your small stature, that's right. And because if they're in a line, there was a gap Yep. To Suck in your stomach. sneak sneak between the guard
Tony Benda 33:46
guards as their swords are drawn. And they're walking down the hallway in like a policing line. Looking for this intruder. So what happens folks, I roll a NAT 20 rolls
Josh Shaw 33:59
a net, the one net 20 He's rolled in so long
Tony Benda 34:03
and it was incredibly meaningful in that moment. So what I described as Steven how I would love to do this is I would like to just you know, you know how in Looney Tunes how your, your cartoon character will sneak through something and like their the middle of their body just sort of compresses for like a half second. That's kind of what my dude does. He sucks it in real quick. And he slides past the guards like Oh, my goodness, I was on a
Josh Shaw 34:33
dumbfounded No, no, but it doesn't stop there. No, no, you didn't.
Tony Benda 34:38
Because they at this point have dispelled the darkness so I can't just reappear next to my friends. So I have to figure out how in the world my character is going to reappear out of the middle of nowhere. After all these alarms have just gone off. Guards are everywhere. And I said Steven is there a bathroom within the next to the hallway I was like Steven there's this is like a public place there has to be some sort of bathroom right? And he's like Sure. So what happens is I did I'm I miss you Misty stepped into the bathroom because there were all of these dispel magic things happening to her had I crossed this threshold by invisibility would have dropped based on how he described the situation. So I, I missed he stepped into the bathroom after a successful check and, and he's like, I don't know how you manage to do that. But my character walks out of the bathroom visible again. Just you know, wiping his hands on his tunic and be like what happened? And
Josh Shaw 35:45
for the perspective of my character, Ezra who had rebuilt after Canaan, yes. And Elroy? Yes, the only thing we saw was darkness. Yep. Alarm spells. Yep. Multiple guards. Yep. And then zyk walking out of the bathroom. That's right. Just then to rule a deception. Deception check. I did. No, no,
Tony Benda 36:08
we had to did to lie for you. That's right.
Josh Shaw 36:13
And then as the result rather than getting to see the headmaster's the next morning, two days, yeah, because they even brought it back and they brought them under lock and key for two days.
Tony Benda 36:25
That was my oops, okay.
Josh Shaw 36:29
That was the DM saying I was gonna reward you. But because with the long rest with you, because you are stupid.
Tony Benda 36:37
That's just called role playing. That's having fun, my friend
Josh Shaw 36:40
said because you're stupid. Hey, the consequences.
Tony Benda 36:44
But I will say I had a blast roleplaying. I had a blast rolling that net 20 And I had a blast. Just getting in just duping those guards and my goodness that net 20 came in clutch. I don't know how I would have ever done anything like that. I could not have coordinated that if I tried.
Josh Shaw 37:03
But that is the beauty of Dungeons and Dragons. Oh, it's so good. You get to roleplay silly stuff like that. And when and when and that not 20 hits and you get to do it. It's so creative. Yeah,
Tony Benda 37:14
it's fun. So
Josh Shaw 37:16
wasn't necessarily stuck in shackles. But Oh, I
Tony Benda 37:20
almost ended up in check. You
Josh Shaw 37:22
almost ended up in shackles. But the the one cool thing that I love about d&d is this. When you when we talk about shackles, could you break your could you break free by yourself? I mean, 100%. Like, you can do enough to break free? No, no. Yeah.
You could we could do stuff within our own strength
to a reason within reason. But could you live through the rest of it by yourself? No. If you broke out of shackles, and you decided to walk the rest of the campaign by yourself? Yeah. You could never walk the rest of the campaign by yourself. Correct. And honestly, this is not the part of the podcast I wanted to get do. Not because it's bad. But because it's convicting. Yeah. Obviously, we're dungeons and disciples. So we're gonna have fun with DND. But we're gonna talk about what we're, I love this bullet point, we're going to shed light on our own shackles. And Tony Mangala I worked. I would think I was like 12 Because I was actually outside with the kids. And I was like, I want to think about this more biblically and deeply. And I was like, I'm going to work on this. And I ended up just praying to the Lord and saying, like, what does it mean to be in shackles? And y'all it's convicting. Buckle your seat belts. Because we're going to talk about it. So what does it mean to be stuck in shackles? Romans, chapter six, verse 16, says it like this. Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness. Second Peter chapter two verse 19. In this he was discussing false teachers at this point, but he says, They promised them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption and says, for whatever overcomes a person to that he is enslaved. And the Lord put this on my heart when we are doing it. Whatever captivates our attention, is what holds us captive. I mean, we let's let's shed light on on certain shackles. And if this this is you, I would encourage you to be honest with yourself. Some shackles we find ourselves in guilt, fear, addiction, negative self talk or self doubt, depression, anger, anxiety, isolation. But before we started the episode, there was one thing that was on my heart. Right before we kind of walked into the room and started recording. And I told Tony has like, Tony, some laid on my heart that we're gonna talk about this episode that I'm not even gonna tell you until we start. And it's really hard to talk about because the realness of this shackle hit me. And it's part of my personal testimony that I want to talk about. The shackle that personally holds me is what do I do when I feel empty? And don't feel the physical presence of the Lord. And I call that a shackle. Not because it's self imposed. But I let doubt and insecurities climb into my mind. I was walking down the hallway, getting ready to use the bathroom. I was just thinking about the Lord. But for a split second. I didn't I didn't feel anything for and then when we're recording in a church, I didn't feel anything. And I was like, why am I not feeling like what like what, what's going on? And I wanted to shed light on that because that shackle honestly held me back for so long. And here's why. Personally, I used to go through a terrible alcohol addiction. And even a pornography addiction at one point now I'm going to be completely transparent about that. And as I battled that, the one thing that I also struggled with in the middle of all that is because I wasn't hearing the Lord. So I was trying to hear other things partake in other things. I praise God that I have broken free. Through the Lord's strength from those addictions, I'm, I haven't touched alcohol and over a year. Pornography has been out of my life for four years now. But the one thing I still struggle with that I feel like my shackle is is when I'm walking around, that I have to have this expectation that I always need to feel these like these goosebumps of the Lord. Like if I'm not having as like a like a serotonin physical outburst of Goosebumps or the holy bumps as some people call them then I'm not feeling the Holy Spirit. The shackle behind that is that God is always present whether we feel them in the immediate moment or not. And all we need to do is think about the Lord I don't know. I don't know why. Jesse sings it. I don't know we're so worship leader. You better help me but it's like when I think about the Lord.
Tony Benda 43:51
How he sees me how he raised me how He healed me with the Holy Ghost
singer. Something like that. How He healed me do
the demos.
Let me look this up. I don't want to be embarrassed on this.
Josh Shaw 44:08
You already saying no. I
Tony Benda 44:10
know you're already singing. Yeah, so
the lyrics are when I think about the Lord how he saved me. How he raised me how he filled me with the Holy Ghost how He healed me to the outermost Yeah, when I think about how he picked me up and turned me around lie please my feet on solid ground. It makes me wanna shout Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Lord, Your word. Yeah. So good. See,
oh, I can stop there for copyright reasons.
Josh Shaw 44:48
I know but seat bouquets. So but that's the thing. That's what breaks us free from shackle. Yes. That right there? Yep. When I Think about the Lord. That's right. I don't have to feel the goosebumps just to know that the Lord is here. We just simply Son and the Holy Spirit dropped.
Tony Benda 45:08
Yep. So good. But see,
Josh Shaw 45:11
we don't think about that. We're so stuck in these chains. Yeah. And we don't think about the Lord, we only feel the physical chains that are present on our bodies. And these shackles hinder our growth and our freedom. Because we're not thinking about the Lord. Instead, we, he picks us up, he turns us around, we walk a little while and all of a sudden, we hit into this mud pit. And we think we're bound again, but we're actually not. But we perceive it like we're stuck in shackles again. And I don't know if you have you have anything to add to that, other than your beautiful voice? I mean,
Tony Benda 45:54
no, we all everyone has their own, you know, their own personal shackles in some some capacity or whatever it is. I think one of mine for a long time has been like self doubt, definitely. You hit that on the list for sure. There's a lot of impostor syndrome, in my powerful in my art in my realms that I, you know, choose to abide in imposter syndrome can hit hard sometimes, like, I've been doing podcasting in the background for like eight years now. I would say I'm fairly decent at it at this point. But I still have this impostor syndrome of like, who am I to get on a mic? And who am I to talk about the things of the Lord and I don't have a seminary degree? I don't have a, you know, I don't I'm not a deep theologian. I'm not the next. I don't know. I'm not a theologian. I can't. Yeah, that the whole that whole imposter syndrome thing, like that's why I'm sitting here stumbling on the mic right now because like, I don't know, that's not like, usually what I think of myself. It's it's that whole self doubt thing. It's the imposter syndrome. I keep coming back to that. What but
Josh Shaw 47:05
okay, but great opportunity. Yeah, what's imposter syndrome? Okay, so
Tony Benda 47:09
imposter syndrome is
Josh Shaw 47:13
I just want to get right. That's fine. Yeah. Listen, that's what we're here for. Exactly. So
Tony Benda 47:18
impostor syndrome. Dictionary calls that a person who pretends to be someone else in order to deceive others, especially for fraudulent gain. But like in I don't know, in the realm of like a professional world, or in something like what the way I'm referring to it is like an impostor syndrome by self doubt, like, even in an area where someone typically like succeeds or excels or something like that. It's nervousness. It's anxiety. It's other words for it in that sense, but like, like I've said, I've been doing podcasting for eight years. So why am I doubting? You know, my ability to do something here when I've clearly been doing it. And I would say fairly successfully for a period of time. And, you know, I produce shows for other people that have, you know, gone and done stuff. But I don't know, like, I've been producing music for, I don't know, probably a decade now. Because I college, and it was wonderful. And I got my first, you know, MacBook Pro and learned how to produce and I was terrible at the beginning, but I was able to get some sort of product finished and finishing is better than not finishing and you need to, you know, yeah, I'll leave that there from the creative side. But like, there's this so there's this level of who am I to be doing what I'm doing? And even though I know I could probably do it well, like leading worship, for example, like I'm, I've been doing music in some capacity. I started playing piano when I was seven. I'm now 31. So seven from 31 is 24 years, that's a long time playing piano. There are times when I'm sitting at the piano or sitting at the keyboard onstage leading worship, and I'm like, What in the world am I doing? Why me? Why? Why am I sitting here leading this group of people. And I hesitate to say it, but half the time. Some of the people don't want to even be there. Like, I look out at the congregation every week and it, it can be so debilitating when I'm not seeing a lift at hand or when you know, someone's texting on their cell phone during the middle of a worship set. And then that just continues to drive that deep down self doubt of like, Why me who am I but at the same time? I know I'm called for something. Yeah. So whether it's to lead worship at a church, whether it's to, I don't know, run up, you know, co co host a podcast with an awesome human and whether it's to be a father which I'll Be in the next couple of weeks. Well, you kind of already AM, but like, no you are hired will be here in a couple of weeks. Or, at this point, I'll have a baby, by the time you're listening to this, see, well, we're recording a couple weeks in advance. But like, I don't know, I don't know how to be a dad yet. But like, I know God's gonna give me the wisdom and discernment and the grace to do so. I don't know how to produce a multi platinum record, but someday maybe I can the name of Jesus. And what happened? Maybe I'm not here about manifesting, but come on, I would love to. But ya know, it's just, I don't know, there's, there's so many different things that that would be my shackle that I've, that I've struggled with for like years is why me? How me like, but I also know that the Lord called me to do stuff. And people have said, like, my worship is anointed, and that's not a flex, that's not like, that's not me trying to boast or anything like that. I just get up on stage in. I don't know, I feel like I'm, my head is sometimes not even there. But like, I can feel like I'm having one of the worst worship sets ever. And then someone comes up to me afterwards. And they're like, that was some of the best worship we've had in a long time. Or like, like, What are you talking about? You didn't hear? You didn't hear my 20 Different wrong jazz notes that I accidentally played in the second verse, the third song and like, what? And then I don't know, it's just, it's so cool how God can use what what we think is a weakness, but yet, turn it around, in, turn it for good and turn in fog. Anyway, I
Josh Shaw 51:39
want to I feel the Lord calling us to talk about this shock. Let's go for it. I want to shed light on the shackle. And it's this phrase. I'm not good enough. Oh, come on. I don't know. I don't really know. It's not in the notes that we're talking about. But I just we need to shed this. We need to shed light on this shackle that I'm not good enough. And an honest question that what is that? Why? Why do you think you're not good enough? For me, I mean, I, we are talking about callings. I feel called to preach the gospel. I feel called to preach. I felt called to do this podcast. And the only thing I doubt is I'm not good enough. I'm not good enough to stand in front of people and proclaim the gospel. I'm not good enough to do a podcast. Why? Because because people won't listen because people won't hear. We're so stuck in this mindset that we need to do something to change the world, when sometimes the things that God has called you to do is just to change you. Why? Because to God, you're good enough. If you weren't good enough, you wouldn't have been created. The fact that you are here on this earth right now that you're walking, that you're breathing that you're listening to this podcast right now means that you're good enough. In fact, you were so good. That when Jesus created all of life, that you were the only thing that was called Very good. Look at it. I'm applying Genesis one. And he said it was good. And he said it was good. And he said it was good. But man Oh, he said it was very good. Why? Because you were made in the image of God Himself. Heaven rejoiced when you were made, and created and birth and gave your first cry. You were good enough. You've always been good enough. All right, always. We, we try to think that we need to look a certain way, or be a certain way or adapt to a culture that I mean, can we be honest, is lying to us. Who You were created to be was always good enough. But somewhere down the line because of one thing somebody said. Someone tried to put a chain on you, and you accepted it. Paul, and I talked about Paul. Paul was literally is literally the embodiment of being in shackles. In fact, in Acts chapter eight, verse three, before Paul became Paul, he was Saul. And it says, But Saul was ravaging the church and I saw this and it blew my mind and entering house after house. He dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. He himself put people in prison. So then what does he do? He saw goes to Paul On the road to Damascus after an encounter with Christ, they're hearing the voice of the Lord picked him up and he turned them around. And then Paul became preaching the gospel for Jesus. And what happened? He was put in prison. In fact, Acts chapter 16 has a beautiful story about it. And before Acts chapter 16, became Acts chapter 60, or the starting I believe it's in verse 16. But Paul and Silas were beaten. Paul and Silas were beaten, cast aside, whipped thrown stones at and then thrown into prison. And it says this. As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by we went by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much game by fortune telling. She followed Paul and crying out these men are servants of the Most High God who proclaim to you the way of the salvation. And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having me come in greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, I commend you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out and it came out of her. But when her owners saw that their hope of game was gone, they see it's Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers and when they brought them to the magistrates, they said these men are Jews and they are disturbing our city. They advocated the customs that are not lawful, lawful for us as Romans to accept, or practice. The crowd joined in an attacking them, and the magistrates tore their garments off and gave them orders to beat them with rods, and then inflicted them with many blows upon them. They threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely, having received the sortie put them in the inner prison and fast in their feet, what in stocks or shackles. But here's where it gets interesting. About midnight, Paul and Silas were what praying and singing hymns to God, as the prisoners were listening to them. Maybe the reason they were put in prison and the in their trials and tribulations and beatings is so they can reflect God to the people who are stuck in their shackles to. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately, all the doors were open, and everyone's bonds were unfastened. When the jailer walked in, saw the prisoner doors or prison doors were open, he drew his sword and wasn't about to kill the prisoners, you know, he's about to kill himself. Because maybe he himself was in so much fear about Rome, killing him for letting prisoners escape, that he didn't want to live anymore. Because he was supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul, cry with a loud voice, do not harm yourself, for we are all here. They stayed. And the jailer called for the lights and rested and trembling with fear he fell facedown before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And he said, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who are in this house. And he took them to the same hour of the night, and wash their wounds, and he was baptized at once he and all his family. If Paul and his chains can be utilized for the good of the gospel, why can't you and your situation if they're singing their hymns and praise can break them free of their shackles? Why do you think you can't break free? Because Paul would eventually writing to Timothy or commanding the Timothy would said, for which I am suffering bound with chains as a criminal, but the Word of God is not bound. Tony, what does it mean, to find true freedom and Jesus to you? Like Paul did? Like this, like this jailer did?
Tony Benda 59:11
Yeah. That's a that's a big question. Finding true freedom and Jesus, first of all, that comes when you accept that you accept Christ as your Savior. I believe for you know, wholeheartedly that you don't know true freedom and Jesus until you've accepted Him as your Savior.
Josh Shaw 59:37
That's right. That is
Tony Benda 59:41
that is key. Because, you know, the Bible also says no man comes to the Father except through me. That's Jesus saying that. So we can't really be free. I mean, brought us the way that leads to destruction. Yes. And then it's a very very finite way of getting into heaven it's a narrow it's a narrow gate
Josh Shaw 1:00:09
I mean it's and that's mean the word literally says Enter by the narrow gate yeah for the gate is wide in the way is easy that leads to destruction exactly right and those who enter it enter by it are indeed many Yes. But it says For the gate is narrow in the way as hard that leads to life and those who find it are few
Tony Benda 1:00:29
my personal reference guide over there Josh, I love it. Thank you. When my brain starts to fail, Josh is here for me. Now No, but that's that's exactly it. There's only one way to you know, to heaven and that's through Christ, amen. So, finding that true freedom to answer the question, if we don't Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, are we truly bound? Oh, come
Josh Shaw 1:00:50
on somebody.
Tony Benda 1:00:52
So shackles indicates some sort of thing. Like when I when I think of shackles, I think of a metallic old fashioned like thick version of a handcuff that ties you to a wall. So that means if it's, if it's a mechanical thing that it must have a key. So if if we're truly bound in shackles and Christ, once he's our Lord and Savior, who stole the keys from hell itself. Are we truly bound? That's right, like we we can truly be free from our prison cells. We could truly be free from our shackles if we believe in Jesus. So I love what you have here. It says in truth most of the time, the doors not locked in the first place. We're choosing to remain inside. Elaborate, but I love it.
Josh Shaw 1:01:52
I knew you were going to point it to me, because
Tony Benda 1:01:54
it's so good. Oh, how your brain works.
Josh Shaw 1:01:58
I'll repeat it I says in truth most of the time the door is not locked in the first place. We are choosing to remain inside. Yes. I heard this actually on a podcast kind of about mental health. And the where I came to this and how I just kind of remember it is in Genesis 27. Jacob steals Esau his birthright. Huh? Jacob stills, Esau his birthright. He steals his birthright and Esau goes up to his father who was blind and is like ASOS, like, where's my blessing? Give me my blessing. Give me my blessing. Esau starts to freak out. I mean, his anger is overcoming him. Overcome overcoming him. Ah, it's so good. And I really believe that people need to hear this. Because Isaac, Isaac, he says father Isaac says something profound to Esau, after Esau gets angry. In verse 40, he says, You will live by your sword. And you will serve your brother. And I love this. The Scripture says, but when you decide to break free, you will shake his yoke from your neck. key phrase. But when you decide to break free. Jesus Christ Himself, stole the keys from hell itself. And through His death on the cross, broke the broke the doors wide open, literally tore the veil in half to communion with the Father. And if back in Genesis, Isaac is saying to Esau, but when you decide to break free. That is telling us that even from the beginning of time, we have the ability through Jesus Christ. To break free from our shackles. We just have to decide when it's time. And I love this part. Because Tony's already alluded to it. Only through Jesus Christ, are we going to find true freedom? The reason I love this episode, and this concept is because this is really the first time Tony that this is a call to repentance for people a call to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. This is the bread and butter of what we do. Yeah. The biblical truth is this listeners. So Jesus in it comes from John chapter eight, starting in verse 31. And then we're going to build up into this. So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and what the truth will set you free Want to be free from your shackles? It's the word of God that sets you free. They answered him, but we are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say you will become free scrutinizing Jesus, but Jesus answered them truly, truly I say to you, everyone who practices sin as a slave to sin, the slave does not remain in the house forever. The sun remains forever. So if the sun sets you free, you will be free indeed. Because the sun said, but when I decide to break you free. When I decide to come down, and die on the cross, whom the sun sets free is free indeed. Galatians chapter five verse one, For freedom Christ has set us free, stand their firm, therefore and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery. Paul is calling us not to submit to slavery. We if you have believed in Jesus, you are free. You don't have to live there. You don't have to stay there. Second Corinthians three, chapter three, verse 17, is what says, Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. So what steps what are the steps to walk out of your prison cells? First thing, reflect on where you're at? Here's the honest question. Do you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior? Yes. Perfect. Surrender your burdens to Jesus. Last episode we talked about Matthew chapter 11, verse 28, through 30 and says, Come to me all who are heavy burden and laden, and I will give you rest. Take upon my yoke, which is funny because in Genesis 27 What is Genesis 27 said that we referenced, but when you decide to freak break free, you will shake his yoke from your neck. When you decide to break free from the yokes and the shackles that are holding you. And you put on the yoke of Jesus Christ. You will find rest, freedom, a new life. That's for believers. What if you're not a believer? I'm calling you right now. I'm calling you out. surrender your life to Jesus Christ. The word says from Romans chapter 10. Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For at the heart, one that believes and is justified, and what the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the scripture says everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. For the same Lord as the Lord of all bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For everyone who calls him the name of the Lord, you will be saved. He will save you from the sins or situations that hold you or keep you captive. And truly listeners, all it takes is one decision. That's why I love this episode. Dungeons and disciples is not just about the d&d part. But it is truly about bringing you the content that sets you free. You have the imagination to set you free from a DD campaign. But you have but with your mouth and with your heart, you have a true capability to break free from shackles that hold you down in your life that cause you depression that cause you anxiety that make you want to kill yourself or cut yourself or take you away from this world. It will break the shackles of an addiction you face between alcohol, alcoholism and drugs. It will break an addiction from the church hurt you feel and refuse to go back to the church because you don't want to go there. It will break you free from the from the people you don't shouldn't be spending your life around anymore. It will break you free from even let's just call it to be honest, the polluted d&d groups that we're trying to reach and put you in a community of d of brothers that will play d&d with you that will lead you and point you to Jesus Christ. Why because it did the same thing for me. I played d&d in a way that was not edifying to the Spirit. And I'm being honest about that. But when I decided to break free when I decided to call on Jesus and hear me, it's not done by yourself. It's done when you go to Jesus and say, I am a sinner and I'm stuck and I need your help is when he will begin to call you and say I've already set you free. Just come to me. Put my yoke upon you, and let me teach you. The prison cell is already open wide. Why are you staying in it? And that starts with confessing your sins to one another. And confess your repentant and transform heart to someone you're walking with. You've accepted Jesus, confess your sins, to brothers, so you may walk in freedom, confess them to Lord first and foremost. And if you are listening to this and you've made the decision to follow Jesus for one, email us so we can prays with you. But confess your repentant and transformed heart to somebody you're walking with in this journey. Tony, you're gonna talk because I got
Tony Benda 1:11:04
I got I'm just I'm loving this bro. Like, come on. There is nothing like hearing the gospel message in a d&d podcast. I love this. Now Josh is is so he's, he's right there hitting the nail on the head. So the Bible talks about this, that if you confess with your mouth, the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. And there is nothing like that. It's It's so cool. Because like, I don't know, you just got to experience it for yourself. Like truly. We could, we could talk about our walks, we could talk about talk about our our transformations all day. But until you truly experience it for yourself, you won't have any idea what it's like to walk with Jesus.
Josh Shaw 1:11:56
And we said in the last episode, but are you willing to walk up to someone and say, I love you? And walk with them through this? And lead that one person to Jesus? I think we get it mixed up. And don't get me wrong. I'm not talking any ill will to people that do it. But I think we spend so much time just running out into the streets and say, Do you believe in Jesus? Do you believe in Jesus? Without getting to form a relationship with somebody? D and D is the perfect place to form a relationship? Yes, sir. And tell people how much Jesus has impacted our life. And you don't have to walk into your first session and say, Do you know Jesus Christ? No. Why don't you just love on the person first? Yeah. Why don't you just seek the person first and just even just subtly talk about how God has changed your life. Talk to people about, you know, what did you do today? Oh, you know, I read my Bible, and I prayed and they'll say, That's cool, whatever. And try to avoid the conversation. But after you live out how Jesus has impacted your life, you can lead them. The problem I have with evangelism sometimes, is that we spend so much time trying to almost Oh, I'm gonna say it. We almost tried to put a shackle around someone's neck and drag them into the kingdom of God and don't realize that we just put them in shackles someone. Instead, evangelism looks like talking with somebody little by little about the word and gently grabbing their hand and leading them into the kingdom of God. But that only happens by how we live out and embody the fruit of the Spirit. What do you do? How do you live out that life? When you study the Word and walk in the teachings of Jesus, you find out this, that when you pray the Word over your life, the word word will impact your life. When you seek God in prayer, he will begin to talk to you. When you have alone time with God, you will realize that even though you may be going through a storm and a trial like Paul and Silas did, you will still praise God even when the door seems shut. When you journal, your convictions and your daily thoughts you will begin to realize like Man, my thoughts are too deep for me to handle on my own. I need to give these to God and it'll expose something. Journaling is a lovely you will expose the real thoughts. So you have and I want to make this point very, very, very, very clear. Do not change because of the shame that you feel. Make a change because of the joy you will have knowing you're following Jesus. I think I think habits People try to change habits because they're ashamed of what they are like losing weight, where we were almost the year old revolution, like, like New Year's resolutions are done because they look in the mirror, and they say, I'm ashamed of how I looked, I'm gonna go to the gym, and that lasts all of a month before we transition back to the old atomic habits or week maybe. But instead, that and that's why habits are not broken, because we're approaching them in shame. Even a repentance of sin isn't, we're not walking in shame. God's not calling us to shame. Jesus says, I don't condemn you. I'm not here to condemn the world, but to save it. But instead, internal conviction says I'm not shaming you. But I know a better life for you. Conviction leads you to look and say, You know what? I'm ashamed of the sin. But I want to seek God to change, repentance. Which is why you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth. And it's a lot believing Jesus, and Jesus is a lot. And I wish I can sit on this podcast and tell you that when you make that profession, and proclamation over your life that is going to be sunshine and rainbows for the rest of your life. But Saul, who turned into Paul proclaimed the gospel and was beaten for the gospel and put in prison. But the impact he had, he went from committing people to prison, to committing his life while in prison, to helping others commit themselves to the main person. It's a hard road to walk. And it's not easy, and there are things that you may have to work through. And that may take therapy. It may take it will take others. But it's never meant to be done alone. Tony, I want you to end our time. With our moment of encouragement. We talked about this last episode that we will always end with a moment of encouragement. And I feel like I feel like I do probably too much talking.
Tony Benda 1:17:27
I don't think so. Yeah, thanks. I think it's great.
Josh Shaw 1:17:30
I want I want you to start our moment of encouragement. How How would you encourage our listeners, one
Tony Benda 1:17:35
way I would encourage our listeners is to start by reflecting on how your character's journey from shackles to freedom can mirror your own spiritual journey. So if you're, if you are saved, take a moment and think about your own personal testimony and how God saved you whether you were whether you've grown up in a church, or like my personal testimony, I've grown up in a church, I went to VBS when I was little I was seven years old. I accepted Jesus as my as my Savior. It was August 7 of whatever year I was when I was seven. I'm blanking on the year, but it was like, Oh, 9099 I believe we were partying like it was 1999. And I accepted Jesus as my Savior. And it was, I don't know, at that moment, it was it was very cool. I remember exactly who, you know, helped walk me through that, that prayer, to accept Jesus, and then growing up at a church. It's always neat to just, I don't know what I'm trying to say, what am I trying to say? Yeah, my own spiritual journey is just acceptance at a young age, growing up in a church, finding the ways to draw nearer to God. And in you know, I'm still living that spiritual journey. I'm still trying to figure out how I can still get closer to Jesus because there is no here on Earth, the closest we can get is, is only so much and then I'll just leave it there because we can't be as close to Jesus as we can be in you know, eternity. So that is, that is something that y'all need to just take a moment and reflect in. If you are Christian, just find that moment and just be thankful and say, Thank You, Jesus for that moment and how it changed my life. Amen. And if you're not, my goodness, if you're not a Christian, first of all, you miss it out. We have great potlucks but amen,
Josh Shaw 1:19:40
amen. Brother a church. There's nothing like a church potluck.
Tony Benda 1:19:45
No, but if you're not a Christian, take a moment and first of all, figure out why. Second of all, if if it's not your moment, that's also okay. Like we would love to explore more of these conversations with you like that. There's just, you know, eternity is on the line. It's not a scare tactic. It's a it's a reality. It's a It's eternal relationship. And it's so cool because like, eternity with the Father and with the Son and the Holy Spirit, you know, the three in one, it's, it's an incredible thing to, you know, just, I don't know, I love thinking existentially I love thinking, all of these things, because it's amazing. We are but a, a speck of dust in the moment of time. And we are so small, insignificant, but yet we in this moment can be used by God. Everyone has a testimony, everyone has, you know, a story that can affect someone else. And maybe this is your opportunity to start writing that story. Because there is hope and freedom in Jesus. Yeah, breaking free from those shackles. So
Josh Shaw 1:21:02
I'd say my moment of encouragement to the listeners. I want to celebrate with those who know Jesus, and are listening and have honestly listened this far. We thank you that you continue to carry out the word of the gospel. I'm gonna encourage you to share your testimonies more. Yeah. We set it on the first the very first thing when we introduced everything, they overcame the enemy, by what? The blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony, and I'm telling you if we make T shirts, that Scripture is going on the back. Yep. I want to speak really candidly, to those who don't know, Jesus. I don't know why I just feel like I need to say this. But whoever hurt you, we're sorry. Whoever hurt you or sorry. I don't know who hurt you. And also the church. I don't know if it's a person, I don't know. But can I tell you that? That broken people can't hurt or can't help broken people. Broken people can't help broken people Sue, whoever hurt you was probably broken themselves. And I'm not claiming to be whole. Tony's not claiming to be whole. But what we're doing is we want to walk with you and hear your story. And invite you into a new story. I love there's a there's a ministry at the church that I personally go to. And it's a it's an addiction ministry, to help people overcome current addictions or past addictions and to remain out of there. And it's just simply a group called 517. And it's based off of the Scripture, second Corinthians chapter five, verse 17. And it says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he has a new creation. The old has passed away Behold, the newest come. And I want to encourage you there is a race that's prepared for you. A walk that God has called you to since the beginning of time Ephesians chapter two, verse 10. And God is calling you into a new creation. He wants you to walk in the newness of life. And I don't know what you're going through. I don't know what you're experiencing. I don't know. I don't know your story, but I want to know it. I want to cry with you. I want to pray with you. I want to take the moment. We want to take the moment to do this life with you. That's what this is about. And when we're done, we want to end with you.
Tony Benda 1:24:12
Amen.
Josh Shaw 1:24:15
I'll run a virtual one shot. That's fine. Let's go we'll run a virtual one shot we'll celebrate you we will celebrate you accepting Jesus or celebrate just even just your walk. And we'll play d&d with you. Yes, but straight us. You got it. You got to tell us first but let us know. That's my encouragement. Yeah. Seek the Lord with your whole heart because that's what the Bible is about. It's not about shaming or throwing stones. It is about seeking with the whole heart and we want to show you the kingdom of God and what it is really what it meant, what it is really meant for. We'll express to you how broken we have been and where we've come from. And we want to know if you are broken and how we can and help you to step out into freedom. When you decide to break free, remember that when you decide to break free and to put on a different yoke, we want to show you what that yoke is. I'm gonna tell you, Tony, this, this this episode was heavy. I'm exhausted.
Tony Benda 1:25:19
me meet you, sir. This was this was intended for someone out there, so. Amen. Yeah, these aren't easy episodes to talk about the weight of what it is, is. It's just Yeah. But we know that someone out there needed to hear it. So if you're that person, and you want to let us know, please reach out. If you don't want to let us know, that's also fine. However, talk to someone, yes. Talk to a, you know, a fellow Christian or a local pastor or if you don't have a church home, find one. If you need help finding one in your local weekend, we can try our best we can try our best. We got friends and resources all over the place. But no, for real, though. Like, find, find the person you trust first of all, and discuss it with them. If it's your spouse, or significant other or whatever, just talk to someone and then Doctor Jesus to That's huge.
Josh Shaw 1:26:25
That's the most important. So and can I tease the next episode had loved to hear this. And if you're scared to find your voice to be able to do that, I want you to listen to next week's episode. We all have a voice. Yes. And maybe right now you're too scared to use it. We all have a voice. We all have a amazing, gifted, whether you're like Tony and blessed to sing, whether you have great words to say, or whether you don't know how to use your voice. I want you to tune in next or the next episode. Almost like next week, and I was like, mom want to prophesy that right now. We got a lot going on. I want you to tune in to next episode. Yeah, because we're going to have a very special guest with us. Who is going to reveal his own d&d voice? Yep. And they're great. A couple of them are Yep. But we're going to talk about what it truly means to have your to have the voice in the Lord. How to Find Your Voice, how to use it, and how it is how God has given you it for purpose.
Tony Benda 1:27:43
Well, folks, with that, we say thank you for hanging out as long. It is been a real pleasure and an honor. And I'm so excited for where this is going. I know this episode was again, heavy, but it's good content in the sense of there's freedom in Jesus, you don't need to be stuck in your shackles.
Josh Shaw 1:28:09
And let's tell people about it. And then, like we talked about, just share this episode with one person. That's all we ask one person that you know needs it. Yeah.
Tony Benda 1:28:19
And we're not even talking about it for us. Right. Here's about the analytics of podcast data. I'm concerned about the gospel getting out there. Amen. That's that's what it's about getting the gospel out. So like Josh said, share this with with someone just one person on social media in person texted to someone which is really cool how you could do that? Yep. If you don't know how to text me Call me whatever. My phone number works. So like send
Josh Shaw 1:28:46
them a carrier pigeon. I mean, if you want yeah,
Tony Benda 1:28:48
smoke signals are great. Or you can actually find us on social media. Google Tag comm on Facebook and Instagram, we are dungeons and disciples. That's the word dungeons and disciples with the and spelled out on Facebook and Instagram. Or you can email us at dungeons disciples@gmail.com Without the end, folks without the end of that one. So again, that's dungeons disciples@gmail.com. Well, I'm so excited for what's next. We're gonna find our voice. Yes, we will. It's gonna be fun.
Well, let's do what do we do with all of our episodes so far? Let's pray out. Pray out. Let's
pray. Father, God, thank you so much for today's episode. Thank you for all the listeners who have stuck with us so far. I hope and I pray that what they've heard today sinks into their hearts. Yes. And I pray that this just does not remain unfertilized soil but it just grows and it prospers. And whatever this fruit is, that comes forth out This father that you just use it for the for your Glory for Your kingdom. And I pray that this just reaches people who need to hear it. I pray that we just go throughout the rest of our day, the rest of our week and month, wherever we are, whatever we're doing, and that we can do it to glorify You, Jesus. Thank you and we praise you in your name. Amen. Amen. We'll see you next time.