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A new D&D podcast from a Christian perspective.
Tony Benda 0:19
Foreign Hello, everyone and welcome, welcome. Welcome back to dungeons and disciples. It's good to sit here and record for the first time in five weeks. Probably long six weeks. Yeah, life has been crazy. Wow, yeah. Towards the end of June we were up, we had our VBS, and leading up to the end of June, we had our tech week and our all the other crazy things. So working at a church, I'll just say, listeners, there are different types of vacation Bible schools out there. Well, first of all, let me, let me, let me. Take it a step back. My name is Tony Benda, and sitting across from
Josh Shaw 0:59
me is Joshua Shaw, yes, and he says, we like we work in the church. But I do not Well, Josh does. I mean, like we from it,
Tony Benda 1:08
we from a ministerial perspective, those who do ministry and those who either serve in a church, work in a church, all the things that have participated in a VBS will understand the No joke, the work that goes into a VBS. But when I say ours has been, let's, let's just say we put out a full production, like we have a play
Josh Shaw 1:32
I watch every day, and I thought they were like rehearsing for Phantom of the
Tony Benda 1:35
Opera. It, it could have been. I mean, we don't do a musical, but we do. We have music in the background, and it is a dramatic experience. It is a lot of work. We do a full script, front to you know, front to back. One of our student ministers, student ministers, wife, Jess She's incredible. She went to Eastern Carolina University for theater, musical theater, and she was amazing. And script front to back every year. That's incredible. Yeah, so she and one of our students had a lot of input in the script. I contributed a little bit, just for some of the storyline and plot and characters and stuff like that. But Goodness gracious, when I say we've been going since, like, February on VBS, it is no joke. And we had, we had our VBS at the end of June, so leading up to, I mean, all this pre planning is wonderful, because then when it comes together in June, we literally, the first Sunday of June, we took everything off our stage, and our our church stage is 90 by 5050 92 by 54 I think that's incredible, massive, wow. And I'm only saying that because it's, it's a black hole, it's all black. There's black curtains behind it. And then it becomes this incredible set that Jess and her husband, Alex, who's our student minister, they have envisioned this thing and it start to finish. It's, it's amazing. Full production, there were 12 cast members, and everyone I was, I think I was one of three adults in the cast this year. Wow. So I actually had a role on Thursday and Sunday. So we go Monday through Thursday and then Sunday as well. So there's four and a half five days of full script, of memorized lines, of, you know, cues and lighting and sound and all of these things. It is a full
Josh Shaw 3:18
production. It even sounds stressful, and I'm just, I'm hearing about that. I'm just sitting here. So
Tony Benda 3:22
anyone who's been in theater, this is, like, literally, a theatrical production. We had a tech week, we had and then our full run for the week. It was incredible. But all that to say it is done. I'm wiped from it. I was wiped from it. It's now, you know, middle to end of July, when we're recording this, and I am wiped for many other reasons, but not because of that. Our baby girl turned one at the beginning of the month. Oh, she's still teething some more, still not sleep regression, but like she's, I think her teeth are keeping her up. Now she's talking back and walking all over the place. She's been walking at like 1010, and a half months, and it's a joy. So she's keeping me busy and occupied and tired and all the things I've been talking a lot. Go
Josh Shaw 4:13
ahead. Josh, no, it's a good thing to talk. I mean, I've been in a very similar thing in terms of busyness, mine's a little different. I mean, I don't work in ministry, but buying a house is, uh, incredibly stressful. Um, not gonna, not gonna lie about it, yeah, the Lord did a really awesome and beautiful thing, yes, but buying and selling a house, for those that are even thinking about it, uh, wow. Honestly, that's all I'm gonna say. But I love the fact that we're together, because we get to use our brand new microphone.
Tony Benda 4:47
Oh yeah, this is our first recording for new gear. So this slurp is just,
Josh Shaw 4:59
yeah, these. Microphones are great. Oh yeah, the microphones. Josh
Tony Benda 5:02
is referring to a recent acquisition investment, I'll say, into our own home studio type stuff we're working on. We're working on it. Folks, keep in mind that this is not a treated room, whereas we were previously recording in a treated room, semi treated. It was pretty decent. We're also at my home where my two wonderful dogs are in the background on the other side of a door. One of them is whining because she wants to come into the room and hang with Josh, yep. Yeah. I mean, I do too, and they're they're cute and cuddly, but the one wants to play fetch with her toy. And, you know, the other one is just always there for pets. So like,
Josh Shaw 5:48
but, but really, I mean, the last studio, great. Nothing wrong with it. Beautiful setup. There's just folks. There's just something about recording in a home. I love it next to a lit candle smells like one of your best friends that smells like coffee. I don't smell
Tony Benda 6:03
like coffee. The candle smells like pumpkin and coffee. I mean, maybe I smell like coffee.
Josh Shaw 6:07
You might smell like coffee. I haven't smelled you recently,
Unknown Speaker 6:12
so I don't know how to respond to that. So we're
Tony Benda 6:17
gonna be a little bit more casual,
Josh Shaw 6:21
either way, if you haven't picked up on it, yes, either way, it's really great to be back and just be able to record again. Yeah, and for one and in all seriousness, thank you guys for all of your patience. Yeah, just thank you for your patience. It's been, you know, when it comes to ministry, when it comes to different life and and things that happen in podcasting. You know, it's just, we can actually come in here and just say, you know, even though we've been gone for a while, we're here to we're here, we're back. We are excited and ready to go. And I'm going to be honest with you, sometimes when you go through those seasons, it's they're beautiful because they teach you so much about what is gonna what am I trying to say with that? Let me restart that. It teaches you so much to the point that when you start to develop new content, or where you start to think about what the Lord needs to communicate to your people, you start to say, like, wow, I'm glad I had to go through that, because honestly, and this is just this, just me being honest, tonight's episode comes from a heavy place of conviction, a heavy place of teaching, and I think Tony himself is going to have some great a great time with this as well. Well, breakdown, who knows which is fine. I mean, spoiler when I say that, it's not that I don't inform Tony of our content. I think sometimes I may catch Tony off guard, because I go from left field to right field in about 6.8 seconds because of the way the Lord speaks to me. Very true for my preachers and fellow content creators out there, you know, one day you can probably relate to it. One day you just are like, Man, I have this whole plan. And then you sit down in the studio and say, oh, you know, actually, The Lord needs us to talk about this today. I'm hopefully hearing a verbal Amen, maybe, oh, I'm from our listeners.
Tony Benda 8:17
I'm a Manning, am I? Okay, good, yeah, I'm listening. I probably got a many with
Josh Shaw 8:21
probably got one or two amens in there. Anyway, let's move into our content for D and D, we are plowing through character classes, and it has been an incredible experience. We're a little over halfway done with the exciting things coming up. Y'all in this recording after Gen Con, we have some collaboration episodes and more things happening from our friends at lorehaven, Steven. Steven cater with his quest givers. Guide is doing a great thing. He's got tremendous followings. He is doing awesome. There's just a lot of cool things coming up as well. But for this episode, we are talking about Paladins today. Yes, we are Tony. Why don't we open up with Paladin class, like we always do. We open up with that opening description, and then we just jump right into what the rules say about it. Yep.
Tony Benda 9:13
Okay, so I'm gonna read out of the 2024, players handbook about paladins. Paladins are united by their oath to stand against the forces of annihilation and corruption, whether sworn before a god's altar lower G in a sacred glade before nature spirits, or in a moment of desperation and grief with the dead as the only witnesses a Paladins oath is a powerful bond. It is a source of power that turns a devout warrior into a blessed champion. Paladins train to learn the skills of combat, mastering a variety of weapons and armor. Even so, their martial skills are secondary to the magical power they wield power to heal the injured, smite their foes and protect the helpless and those who fight at their side, almost by definition, the. Of a Paladin is an adventuring life for every Paladin lives on the front lines of the cosmic struggle against annihilation. Fighters are rare enough among the ranks of a world's armies, but even fewer people can claim the calling of the paladin when they do receive the call, these blessed folk turn from their former occupations and take up arms and magic.
Speaker 1 10:19
These blessed folk. I love it. I do love it. This
Tony Benda 10:23
is, like the stereotypical, like, hero, yep, you picture when you think of like a knight in shining armor type
Josh Shaw 10:29
thing. Oh, really, I think of Creon.
Tony Benda 10:33
I mean, that's what's kind
Josh Shaw 10:35
of hard, jerich. I love you, by the way, a blessed Leonin. But you know what I think of Paladins? I It's like, people think all this, this the generic poster board trends, charming hero. And I'm like, Creon, yeah. And if you've listened to us long enough, you know who Creon is, and you know who Jerrick is, there's no accurate way to describe the intensity of of Creon, fair wind.
Tony Benda 11:01
Very true. Constantly, I had to constantly be on guard. He's like the
Josh Shaw 11:06
Sponge Bob of Paladins. Yes, at the end of the day, he is the hero of the story. SpongeBob is for real, like the at the end of the day, he saves everyone in Bikini Bottom. Helps everything. Yeah, he is just simply the Sponge Bob of Paladins, and honestly, knowing jerk, he will take that as one of the highest compliments, probably, anyway, continuing on becoming a paladin. Love it all right, Tony, start us up how to become a how to become a paladin. Well, I remember, folks only going up to level five, just for the sake of time, sake of clarity. You want to investigate levels up that you're more than welcome to open that book and crank it open and see how to do it. But for us, in these episodes, only going to level five,
Tony Benda 11:56
trying to keep it as brief as possible. T heat, that's a that's a hit on me, folks. No, no, not a hit on Josh, just a hit on like, just look at this. There's so many levels and so much information. It's good stuff, but we're gonna keep it brief, just so you guys can get to the good stuff.
Josh Shaw 12:10
100% all right, Tony, open us up as we move into becoming, becoming a paladin. Ah,
Tony Benda 12:16
all right. So starting at level one, you get something called lay on the hands. This is something that Jarek used to do as often as he can in some creative ways. Gross. It's pretty fun. Let's be honest, not always gross, just more touchy feely than I could expect. So anyway,
Unknown Speaker 12:40
gross. Sure, sure.
Tony Benda 12:46
So first I'll, I'll start off by saying, Look at the look at the paladin tables that they have there at different levels of like things you can get, like laying on hand, spell casting, weapon mastery, level two, fighting style and Paladin Smite. The whole table kind of outlines everything,
Josh Shaw 12:59
and we can't forget this either. Primary abilities for paladins are strength and charisma. Yes, thank you for the we always seem to forget those ones, but those are completely vital as we go on to build your Paladin. So under present, just the FYI in there as well. All
Tony Benda 13:13
right. So starting with Lay on Hands, your blessed touch can heal wounds. You have a pool of healing power that replenishes when you finish a long rest with that pool, you can restore a total number of hit points equal to five times your Paladin level. As a bonus action, you can touch a creature which could be yourself, and draw power from the pool of healing to restore a number of hit points to that creature up to the maximum amount remaining in the pool. You can also expend five hit points from the pool of healing power to remove the poisoned condition from the creature. Those points don't also restore hit points to the creature, so it just removes poison in that instance, that is. That's kind of neat, obviously, though it's very cool continuing with level one spell casting. So there, I'll start off by saying there are different types of spell casters in DND, there are Paladins that we're talking about, but then there's wizards, sorcerers. What am I missing here? Wizards, sorcerers, things, warlocks. Warlocks is another one, and Druids. Druids, yes, clerics, fight or not, fighters, but Rangers. There are some Rangers that have abilities in magic.
Josh Shaw 14:23
Some when that's a, ooh, that's a next episode thing, but yeah, some, some, some abilities,
Tony Benda 14:28
yeah. And there are some feats where you can even get magic. Magic feats like taking a not multi class in per se, but do becoming an initiate, yes, in certain feeds anyway, hopping into the spell casting for level one of Paladin, you have learned to cast spells through prayer and meditation. See chapter seven for the rules on spell casting. The information below details how you use those rules with Paladin spells, which appear in the paladin spell list later in the class's description, spell slots the palad. Features. Table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your level one plus spells.
Speaker 2 15:06
You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest prepared spells of level one, you prepare the list of level one plus spells that are available for you to cast with this feature. To start, choose two level one Paladin spells, they recommend heroism and searing Smite, not required, though, correct not required. Just depends how you play the character, and depends on the on the spells you want to take and when you build a character, especially if you use something like DND. I would personally use DND beyond building characters, because it gives you draw the drop down options and make things simple for simpletons like myself, yep, it'll give you a couple of different options used for spells as well, but you can also just reference the tables the spell casting tables for Paladin specifically, yep,
Tony Benda 15:49
number of spells in your list increases as you gain Paladin levels, as shown in the prepared spells column of the paladin features table. Whenever that number increases, choose additional Paladin spells until the number of spells on your list matches the number in the paladin features table, the chosen spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots. For example, if you if you're a level five Paladin, your list of prepared spells can include six Paladin spells of level one or two in any combination. If another Paladin feature gives you spells that you all always have prepared, those spells don't count against the number of spells that you can prepare within this feature, but those spells otherwise count as Paladin spells for you, changing your prepared spells. Whenever you finish a long rest, you can replace one spell on your list with another Paladin spell for which you have spell slots.
Josh Shaw 16:34
That's key, because sometimes I feel like we
Speaker 2 16:38
we may mess this up. When we finish the long rest, we start to, quote, unquote, select our spells like other classes. For paladins, it's noting that you can replace one spell on your list with another Paladin spell. Other classes, you can replace multiple, but for paladins, you can only replace one. Yep, so don't be trying to juke the system out. Yeah, we see you, and I'll even, I'll even add this DMS discretion. Yes, that's true. Some DMS may allow more, but going based off the handbook rules and the normative thing is one spell can be swapped.
Tony Benda 17:13
Continuing on with spell casting ability. Charisma is your spell casting ability for your Paladin spells. That's why, when we're talking about attributes or characteristics of a D and D character, we want to make sure that we're features, or what is it called, wow, like
Josh Shaw 17:29
when you roll for a character unit and you establish all your ability scores, so that's when yours that's the word yes, when you establish your ability scores, that's when you would start to take your highest roles, put them in strength and put them in charisma. Now, if you wanted to be a more heavy spell caster versus fighter, you can kind of swap and put charisma with your highest ability score and then strength or vice versa. So it kind of just spends whichever you want. We wanted to play with the paladin
Tony Benda 17:53
Yeah, so charisma is your spell casting ability for your Paladin spells. Now, the focus, the spell casting focus, you can use a holy symbol as a spell casting focus for your Paladin spells. Now continuing with weapon mastery, your training with weapons allows you to use the mastery properties of two kinds of weapons of your choice with which you have proficiency, such as long swords and javelins. Whenever you finish a long rest, you can change the kind of weapons you chose. For example, you could switch to using the mastery properties of halberds and flails.
Josh Shaw 18:26
So I feel like weapon masteries are I think the 2024 rules did a lot to update the weapon masteries. So if you're not familiar with them, maybe we can maybe do an episode on that someday for our like from IDM, specifically, when we did weapon masteries, it took us a little bit a while to kind of get used to the weapon masteries, because they do include a lot more feats that are very useful and very helpful in combat. But it does, again, it requires the mastery in it. Now it looks like the nice thing for Paladin is looks like you're gaining weapon masteries pretty early, whereas I feel like some classes, it requires a little bit more levels to get up there. So as you pick your weapons, just be smart with what you pick, because the weapon masteries and weapon traits that you get are a little bit different in the 2024 rules. So just
Tony Benda 19:14
remember that. All right, you want to continue with level two?
Josh Shaw 19:17
I do. I do. So level two you get fighting style. It says you gain a fighting style feature of your choice. You can see chapter five for the various feats here. Instead of choosing one of those feats, you can choose the option below if you wanted to, so if you didn't want to use a fine style, you can choose something called Blessed warrior, where you learn two cleric can trips of your choice, guidance and sacred Sacred Flame are some of the recommended ones, those can trips count as a paladin spell for you, and charisma is your spell cast ability for them, whenever you gain a paladin level, you replace one of these cantrips with another cleric cantrip. And the last thing at level two is a paladin Smite. And it says you always have the divine smite spell prepared, which is an amazing. Spell, especially early levels. In addition, you can cast it without expending a spell slot, but you must finish the long rest before you can cast it in this way again. Moving on to level three, you get something called channel divinity, which which says you can channel divine energy directly from the outer planes, using it to fuel magical effects. By the way, shout out to lorehaven if you want to learn all about the planes. Listen, go Listen Go. Listen to their show. Yeah, because it's incredible. Find out about the planes, folks. So what are the planes? They'll tell you, I promise
Tony Benda 20:30
you amazing. And they went through each one, and I think they're still working through them, aren't they? They're
Josh Shaw 20:34
still working through Yeah. And credible info. Good stuff, good stuff. Continuing on. It says you start with one such effect Divine Sense, which is described below. Other Paladin features give you additional channel divinity. Effect Options. Each time you use this class's channel divinity, you choose which effect from the class to create. You can use this class's channel divinity twice. You regain one of its expended uses when you finish a short rest, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest. And you will also gain an additional use when you reach Paladin level 11. If a channel divinity effect requires a saving throw, the DC equals the spell save DC from this class's spell casting feature. So, as we just talked about from above, it talks about the Divine Sense channel divinity feature. So what is that? It says as a bonus action, you can open your when awareness to detect Celestials, fiends and undead for the next 10 minutes, or until you have the incapacitated condition. You know the location of any creature of those types within 60 feet of yourself, and you know it's creature type within the same radius, you also detect the presence of any place or object that has been consecrated or desecrated, as with the hallow spell. And honestly, I find so jerick as a Paladin, did that quite often with Divine Sense. I will say this from that perspective, it really just depends on the campaign or one shot that you're doing, yeah, Divine Sense could be a really huge asset. Or Divine Sense may not work as much as you fully think it does. I would say, as you play a Paladin, use good discretion on when you use Divine Sense, because you know, you know, a good DM might include a lot of those, um, celestial fiends, undead care, um, kind of encounters or various things within various aspects of your campaigns, or one shots, but also just kind of keep in mind the kind of area that you're in, the kind of campaign you're playing, about when to use it, because you could be like Jared. Can go 20 sessions and use Divine Sense and it not work, and then you know one time it works. Or you can play curse of strata, and you're using Divine Sense every other round. And and it works, and it works beautifully, because there's so much on day Exactly. And then last thing, which we'll carry in level three, you'll gain a paladin subclass, but we will talk about those here in just a moment. Tony, finish off levels four and five for
Tony Benda 22:55
us, you bet. So starting with level four, you get the ability score improvement. So you gain the ability score improvement feat or another feat of your choice for which you qualify. See, chapter five, you gain this feature again at Paladin levels 812, and 16, and that's pretty standard for every class. Yep, level five you get an extra attack, which is pretty straightforward. You can attack twice instead of once, whenever you take the attack action on your turn. And level five, you get faithful. Steve, yeah, you can call on the aid of an otherworldly steed. You always have the find steed spell prepared.
Josh Shaw 23:31
Find Steve, that's an inside joke. You
Tony Benda 23:35
can also cast the spell once without expending a spell slot, and you regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Oh mischief. We miss you.
Josh Shaw 23:44
I actually do. I really do miss mischief quite a bit.
Tony Benda 23:47
Mischief was the steed that Creon, our friend Jarek, had constantly called upon in our campaign. And there is even, let's just, let's just say mischief had such a strong role in our campaign. Yes, his personality was wonderful. And beyond that, Jericho is now turning mischief, the concept of mischief. He's using that name for this. He's he's creating a D and D room, which we'll talk about at some point, but it's very, very cool. Mischief game room is what he's calling it. And I'm so excited for this endeavor.
Josh Shaw 24:22
Beautiful. Idea, yes, but also mischief was quite literally the the animal that saved us all honestly, yes, that's why, yeah, Derek is the Sponge Bob of our group. That's why he's the SpongeBob Paladin.
Tony Benda 24:36
He's such a goofy goober, and I love it anyway.
Josh Shaw 24:40
All right, going on. So as we touch base, so as you scroll, if you were to in the book, a little bit, we talked about Paladin spells as we talked about in the book. So after you go past a lot of the the levels of which of the things you'll gain as a Paladin, you'll begin to find all your all your Paladin spells. Levels one through looks like level five is listed through here. I'm. But now we get to the fun part, the paladin subclasses. All right, the first subclass that you can choose once you hit level three, the first one is oath of devotion. The oath of devotion binds Paladins to the ideals of justice and order. These Paladins meet the archetype of the knight in shining armor. They hold themselves to the highest standards of conduct, and some, for better or worse, hold the rest of the world to the same standards. Many who swear this oath are devoted to God's little g of law and good and use their gods little g tenants as the measure of personal devotion. Others hold angels and their ideals and incorporate images of angelic wings to their helmets or coats of arms. And these these Paladins share the following tenets, let your word be your promise. Protect the weak and never fear to act. Let your honorable deeds be an example. And I love that in there, because if you choose to do the oath of devotion, you can basically build your entire character off of those three traits, which I think is very cool, super cool. And in this you gain, um, really, it's you. So you gain two things at level three, and then just move on to level seven, unfortunate until level seven, unfortunately for this particular one, maybe well for the others. But you gain oath of devotion. Spells. The magic of your oath ensures you have always have certain spells ready when you reach a paladin levels specified in the oath of devotion spells table, you thereafter, always have the listed spells prepared. Now, starting at level three, you get protection from evil and good and shield of faith. Level five, you get aid and zone of truth. There are some great other spells that move on past that. But again, sake of time, we'll stick level five and level three, you'll gain sacred weapon, which says, when you take the attack action, you can expend one use of your channel divinity to imbue one melee weapon that you are holding with positive vibes. Man, love it. Positive energy for 10 minutes, or until you use this feature again, you add your to your charisma modifier. I'm sorry. You add your charisma modifier to attack rolls you make with that weapon, minimum bonus of one of plus one. And each time with it, you hit you cause it to deal its normal damage type, or radiant damage. The weapon also will emit a bright light in a 20 foot radius and a dim light. 20 feet beyond that, you can end this effect early, which requires no action. This effect also ends if you aren't carrying the weapon. All right. Tony, oath of
Tony Benda 27:31
glory. Super cool. Yeah. Oath of glory. Paladins who take the oath of glory believe they and their companions are destined to achieve glory through deeds of heroism, they train diligently and encourage their companions so they're already when Destiny calls. These Paladins share the following tenets, endeavor to be known by your deeds. Face hardships with courage and inspire others to strive for glory. At level three, you get the inspiring Smite, so immediately after you cast divine Smite, you can expend one use of your channel divinity and distribute temporary hit points to creatures of your choice within 30 feet of yourself. That's really cool. Which can include you. The total number of temporary hit points equals two d8 plus your Paladin level, divided among the chosen creatures, however you like. That could be loaded. It's fantastic that could, that could really help. That really a small buff before you go into a battle, or whatever happens, or not, not immediately after a battle, but like when you're in a battle, right? I need that extra little boost of protection to throw yourself over that little hump if you're in a bad spot. The Oath of glory spells. The magic of your oath ensures you always have certain spells ready when you reach a paladin level specified in the oath of glory dispels table, you therefore always have the listed spells prepared. So level three is guiding bolt into heroism. Level five is enhance ability and magic weapon. And at level three you're you also get peerless athlete. As a bonus action, you can expend one use of your channel divinity to augment your athleticism for one hour, you have advantage on strength or athletics, dexterity or acrobatics checks, and the distance of your long and high jumps increases by 10 feet. This extra distance costs movement as normal.
Josh Shaw 29:18
That's pretty neat. Yes, I would love to see a a like, like a gnome Paladin just get an increase in 10 feet jumps,
Tony Benda 29:27
yes, or a dwarf or a heron con, yeah,
Josh Shaw 29:31
but that's inherent. They're bunnies. I mean, I know
Tony Benda 29:34
they have, they have, they've got bad hops.
Josh Shaw 29:37
Anyway, want, want, oh, Oath of the ancients. Go ahead, Josh. I love you. The Oath of the ancients is as old as the first elves. Paladins who swear this oath cherish the light. They love the beautiful and life giving things of the world more than any principles of honor, courage and justice. Justice. They often adorn their armor and clothing with images of growing things, leaves, antlers or flowers, to reflect their commitment to preserving life and light. These Paladin share the following tenets, kindle the Light of Hope, shelter life, delight in art and laughter. So at level three, you gain nature's wrath as a magic action, you can expend one use of your channel divinity to conjure spectral vines around nearby creatures. Each creature of your choice that you see within 15 feet of yourself must succeed on a strength saving throw or have the restrained condition for one minute. A restrained creature repeats the Save at the end of each turn, ending the effect on itself, on success. And at level three, it's been, it's kind of apparent, just as we go throughout this process, that level three with when it comes to paladins, that you'll gain specific spells when it comes to the oaths that you take. So for level three, for this you gain ensnaring strike and speak with animals. And these spells are always prepared. And at level five, you gain Misty step and Moon beam. Yes, those are really nice. Those are cool entry level spells. They really are. And then it looks like finally, is oath of vengeance. Yes, oath of vengeance. The Oath of vengeance is a solemn commitment to punish those who have committed grievously evil acts, when evil army slaughter helpless villagers, when a tyrant defies the will of the gods lower G when a Thieves Guild grows too violent, when a dragon rampages through the countryside. At times like these, Paladins arise and swear an oath of vengeance to set right what has gone wrong.
Tony Benda 31:40
These Paladins share the following tenets, show the wicked, no mercy, fight injustice and its causes and aid those harmed by injustice. Okay, let me just preface, I feel like I would love to play it with a vengeance palace. You would this would be like, would that. I'd be like, That's it. Show the wicked, no mercy, no truly, I'd be, I'd be in all black armor. I'd be going to town, buddy. This would be so cool to play. Okay, so the oath of vengeance spells at level three, the magic of your oath ensures you always have certain spells ready, just like the rest, when you reach a paladin level, specified in the oath of vengeance spells table, you therefore always have listed spells prepared. At level three, you get Bane in Hunter's Mark. And at level five, you get hold person and misty step. Super fun. That is super fun for this one. At Level three is Vow of Enmity. I need to listen. I'm gonna listen to that word real quick,
Josh Shaw 32:37
enmity. And then, and enmity, Edmund, enmity.
Tony Benda 32:46
Enmity, all right, so level three, you also get Vow of Enmity. When you take the attack action, you can expend one use of your channel divinity to utter a Vow of Enmity against a creature you can see within 30 feet of yourself, you have advantage on attack rolls against the creature for one minute, or until you use this feature again. If the creature drops to zero hit points before the vow ends, you can transfer the vow to a different creature within 30 feet of yourself. No action required. Super cool. Can I break the the code that we've been doing with for a little bit? Sure? I really want to read this level 20.
Josh Shaw 33:21
Go for it. Okay, I don't know. I just, I was listening to that, but then I scrolled down just a little bit more. Yes, I'm gonna give you a level 20 trait, like, if you're called level 20 with, with um, oath of vengeance. With oath of vengeance, sorry, I'm my my iPad, with oath of vengeance. Like, I'm sorry, but just have your DM get you up level 20, because level 20 is avenging angel. It says, As a bonus action, you gain the benefit below for 10 minutes, or until you end them, no action required. Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest. You also restore your use of it by expending a level five spell slot, which also does not require an action. You gain the following benefits, flight, you sprout spectral wings on your back and have a fly speed of 60 feet, and can hover just awesome and flight and frightful aura when an enemy starts its turn in your aura of protection, the CR that creature must succeed on a wisdom saving throw, or of the frightened condition for one minute, or until it takes any damage. Attack rolls against the frightened creature have advantage.
Tony Benda 34:25
That's amazing. That's just your sheer presence is an intimidating thing.
Josh Shaw 34:30
It's like, I don't know why, biblically, but it reminds me of Peter when he just walks by. People are just healed by a shadow. Yes, oh my gosh, yes. I mean, that's just like, I mean, it's not the same, but it's, it's a little different, but it's that's more pure, it's powerful presence,
Tony Benda 34:46
yes, yeah, yeah. Super cool. I love, oh my gosh. Speaking of Peter, we've read through all of the paladin things. I think it's time to dive into our next section. What do you think he says? Speaking of Peter and. Don't even think Peter's in this particular discussion. No, he's not, but I'm just saying, speaking of great transition,
Josh Shaw 35:05
though, the apostles, the apostles, honestly, I'm so excited. It's like, I've been I've been Jones like, I love the DND content, and I always love the biblical content, but today's biblical content is just so powerful and so applicable. And if you don't mind, I would love to say, Why? Why? After prayer, of course, Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, I just want to come to you in this moment God and just pray for this biblical content, God, thank you for the D and D content that we get to share and we get to love with God. But Lord, in this moment, I just pray that all listeners would open their hearts and their minds to the word that's going to be given. God. I received such great wisdom on it recently, God, and I'm beyond excited to share and converse with my brother about these conversations for the benefit of those that are listening, God, thank you for your words and your wisdom in advance in Jesus name, amen,
Tony Benda 36:00
amen. So
Unknown Speaker 36:03
today's
Josh Shaw 36:04
biblical content is really powerful, because when we think about paladins, let's think of it from this perspective, right? Paladins are united by their oath against the for it says to stand against the forces of annihilation and corruption, right? Yes, they're obviously sworn to something. They protect those. They protect the helpless. They heal, they smite their foes. They do all these things, but one, it was one descriptive sentence within the paladins that really stuck out to me. It says right at the end of the description. It says, When they do receive the call these blessed folks turn from their former occupations and take up arms and magic. It got me thinking of a particular passage in Philippians, chapter three, verses 13 to 14. It says, Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended but one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ, Jesus. Now that's today's passage. That's that's this our episodes biblical or our theme, right? And, and here's why, hang with me. Okay, so Tony, when we read this, I look at a couple things here, we need to break down first. So it says Paul has left things behind and is pressing forward towards the things of their head. What does he say? I'm pressing forward towards I press towards the goal for the prize. What is that prize? The upward call of God in Christ, Jesus. So the first question is, Tony, what is this upward call?
Tony Benda 37:53
My initial thought with the upward call is heaven or the reward of eternity with God. So that is when I think of when, when Paul looks up or looks to the heavens or reaching forward toward those things which are ahead. I mean, He even talks about running a race to completion, the completion being heaven, or eternity, like death in Christ, is, you know, gaining everything,
Josh Shaw 38:27
yes, to live it, to live as Christ and to die is gain, correct? Yes.
Tony Benda 38:31
So that is kind of what I think of when I think of that upward call of God in Christ, Jesus.
Josh Shaw 38:37
Okay, so I'm in full agreeance with that, that's perfect. So then we come into the next question. What does it look like to press towards that goal? You
Tony Benda 38:49
got to put some shoulder into it. Got
Josh Shaw 38:52
a shoulder you got to shoulder check. Get a shoulder check. Life before it shoulder checks you. That's what Tony said, yeah, pretty much
Tony Benda 39:00
give it the chance. No, I think that is interesting, interesting, interesting.
Josh Shaw 39:07
So let me, let me preface it with this, right? It, it's many things, yeah, it's many things you can do that, that press it, that press towards the goal, the upper call of Christ, towards eternity with Him, right? That can look like a lot of different things in the life of the believer, but there's one particular thing that has caught my wisdom and attention in regards to this topic, okay, stead fast living. There it is.
Tony Benda 39:44
So what does set fast living look like to you? Ah,
Josh Shaw 39:50
I think Tony asks not only just for the the pressing forward of our episode, but actually he might be genuinely curious. No, I
Tony Benda 39:57
am. I'm more genuinely curious than anything. Who cares about the time of the episodes nowadays? Whatever? It's just a podcast.
Josh Shaw 40:04
So steadfast living in two I learned this. There's a wisdom the term is steadfast, right? We're looking at the term steadfast. What does it mean to be had to have steadfast living. I had this example to me when I was sitting in an auto shop, waiting for tires to get on my car. My wife was gone doing some hurricane relief, and I had my car, and I had to get it. I remember if it was tires, had to get it fixed, either way, I was sitting in mechanics shop, and at the time, it had the 2024 Olympics on. That was just that time the Olympics go on for a while. So they had it on just to watch, and my kids were sitting in the chair next to me just playing on the phone, watching TV, just trying to be occupied, because we were just going to sit in this mechanic shop for a while on the TV screen. There was a particular event that was happening, and it was the men's 10,000 meter race. So for those that don't know how far 10,000 meter is, it's it's about six miles. Yeah, right. So these men are have professionally trained to go to the Olympics and run six miles,
Speaker 1 41:11
6.4 I believe. Yeah. 6.4 6.2
Josh Shaw 41:14
somewhere. Yeah. So there is a particular runner in this race. His name is Grant Fisher. Grant Fisher is a probably the age of like a co like a young college student running in the Olympics when this race started. Grant Fisher, when you look at all this that, like all the stats from his race, all the rest of the runner started off quick. GRANT Fisher started off around the middle of the race here for six miles. Grant Fisher kept the pace. A lot of runners started off at the front like they kicking off at the front. Cool, you're in the front. But then as they continued to run, they got tired and they would slack towards the back. Meanwhile, the more advanced racers that have been around a while started off in the back because they knew they needed to keep their pace so they can push forward towards the front. And inherently, they just needed to run a little bit faster, the the more they got so they get to the front. But grant Fisher did something different. Grant Fisher kept the pace the entire time, about mile four through this race. GRANT Fisher trips. He stumbles a little bit and kind of trips a little bit. He drops about five or six positions, but grant Fisher catches his footing, and then he continues to run, run the race. Yeah, Grant Fisher, throughout this entire race, when you look at the calculation, did not inherently gain that much speed. Instead, he kept a consistent pace the entire race for six miles. Yeah. Grant Fisher walked away from the 2024 Paris Olympics with a bronze medal. Now, I don't care who you are, a bronze medal in the Olympics is pretty good. It's pretty impressive. It's pretty impressive. Not gonna lie, there's not there's no wrong in that. But the point is this, throughout this entire race, all grant Fisher did to get the medal was be steadfast in his pace. Yeah, that's it. So using that analogy, what is steadfast living, then
Tony Benda 43:23
consistency, determination, consistency, I would say those are the two of the big ones for me. In my mind, yeah, because you have to be determined to keep going, and you have to be consistent to continue that normal pace, correct. So it's a discipline as well.
Josh Shaw 43:41
What about steadfast living when life gets to you? Who I mean,
Tony Benda 43:47
that's something you have to fall on, because if it's not a habit, if it's not a second nature, I'll use this as an example, because you were a military man, yes, going through boot camp or basic training. Because I was an Army guy. Josh was a Marine. Still is a marine. Sorry, once, once a Marine, always a Marine. Anyway. Member Gumby, just, you know, I'm just messing now, but for real. So both of us in the military service, and there are those up there that will relate. When you're in the military, they want you to they break you down to build you up so they break down your civilian concepts of life and routine and all of these things they want your your second nature responses to be that of a warrior, that of a of a trained professional in a military that that can serve their country, whether that is being able to respond in a emergency or a conflict situation and know who the enemy is, having that immediate discernment between a civilian and an enemy person, if you're in an intense situation, or even if it's just, you know, saluting an officer as they're walking by like it needs to be second nature. You need to recognize someone. Stripes on their on their arm or on their jacket or whatever it is, and as you're walking by, it just needs to be second nature to salute. I mean, that's just a very basic thing, but second nature is drilled into our core. So coming back to the biblical side of things, how are we practicing our daily routines, not calling it routine necessarily, how are we practicing our daily disciplines, to then make it become second nature, to then make it become a determined, steadfast thing.
Josh Shaw 45:29
So let's take it a step deeper. Yeah, just past daily routines. Let's take it. Let's take the word into motion now, right? Let's, let's go beyond. Let's go beyond. The Bible study, the daily prayer, yes, the daily meditation, the non inherently bad things. I want to talk deeper. I want to talk about when you're outside of the Daily Bread time in the morning or in the evening, whichever you prefer. Yeah, when you're outside of the quiet place, and now you need to take the word that you've learned and apply it to your life. I heard this wisdom recently, and I've been meditating on it, and it was this, it's okay to let things get to you, just don't let them get in you. That's good. There is nothing wrong with letting things get to you, with letting things like man that overwhelmed me, that sucked, that was awful,
Unknown Speaker 46:32
but
Josh Shaw 46:34
it's when you let those things get inside of you. Yeah,
Unknown Speaker 46:38
that
Josh Shaw 46:41
is where this happens. If people could, if we had recording people's life, ends up looking like a heart monitor at times, up down, up down, up down. In the world of heart monitor, when you flatline, you die, yeah, that's true in the world of Christianity, when you flatline, you've actually reached steadfast life. This is for church leaders. This is for parents. This is for husbands and wives. This is for those that work in ministry, this is, I want you to know that this is not wisdom that I'm perfect at. But I learned this recently, and this is one of my biggest meditations, because I feel called into ministry. And my pastor had to sit down with me and say, Josh, if you want this call, if you want to run into this, this seasonal call, and you want to run into this life of up, the upward call of Christ. Steadfast living is where you need to be. Yeah, your children deserve a father or mother that isn't happy, one that isn't like the most intense happy and then fluctuating attitudes up down, up down, up down. They need a steadfast parent. They're allowed to see that things can get to you. But how are you going to respond?
Unknown Speaker 48:11
Spouses,
Josh Shaw 48:13
you guys need a steadfast relationship, not up down, up down. Now. Now let me rephrase, let me, let me clarify something. There's no, there's nothing wrong with having a a season, what we reference as like the hilltops in the valleys. That is going to happen, for sure. I'm not saying that those things are wrong. You will have those moments, but it's how you respond in those moments. My prayer has been Psalm 57 verse seven, David is crying out to the Lord, recognizing that his enemies are surrounding him. What does he say? My heart is steadfast. O God, my heart is steadfast. I will sing and give praise. I grace. You know, much it takes in the lowest valley that you're in to come back up to a steadfast heart with God and say, My heart is steadfast. Oh, God, Well, isn't this the suckiest time in your life? Yeah, but my heart is steadfast,
Unknown Speaker 49:17
yeah. He said it twice, twice. Yeah. Think about it. Okay, so
Tony Benda 49:23
that's crazy to think about it like he's he's initially saying, like, intentionally saying, twice, yeah, my heart is steadfast. Oh God, my heart is steadfast. And then he continues to say, I will sing and give praise. That is huge.
Josh Shaw 49:38
Let's take, okay, so let's, let's use the worst case scenario. You're in the lowest value of your life. What about Psalm? Psalm 5051 verse 10, right. Psalm 51 was written in the time where David had sinned and slept with Bathsheba. What did he cry out to the Lord Create in me a clean heart, oh God. And what? Renew a stead fast you? Spirit within me.
Tony Benda 50:02
Yeah, this is six chapters before that first one, that's cool. So he's asking for renewal in chapter 51 in verse, or in chapter 57 he's saying, My heart is saying it steadfast. So either God blessed him and helped him find that steadfastness
Josh Shaw 50:26
or or he learned that when his heart was away from God, he was up down, up down. And what did he ask for? Create in me a clean heart and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Not a spirit to just love you more, or a spirit to just pray more, no, a spirit to drive me to be more steadfast in you, because when my heart is up, one moment down, one moment of one moment down, one moment you're not. You're you might. You'll lean into the Lord in the upward moments, and you'll run to fear and anxiety in the downward moments. Yeah. But steadfast, living devotion looks like God, this sucks, or God, this is great, either way, my heart is steadfast. Why? Because that situation might get to me, but I'm not gonna let it get in me. Because, like Paul, we run towards the upward call of Christ. But it's also imperative to remember, in Philippians chapter three, verses 13 to 14, that he's saying, I forget the things that which are behind and reach forward to what's ahead. Why? Because the things that are behind
Unknown Speaker 51:41
have happened. Yeah,
Josh Shaw 51:46
they're done. Paul is not saying bill and term I can think of like in the moment is the forgive or forget mentality. Because I think sometimes we just say, Oh, it happened, whatever. Just no big deal. Brush off our show. No, there is healing that needs to be happening, because here's the here's the truth, folks, sometimes in order to move forward, you have to go back to heal, right? That's not contradictory to Scripture, that's just called wisdom. And healing is that sometimes you have to revisit old traumas and mend those wounds before you can live life the most effectively, yeah, like if you go to a if you try to go be an athlete and you got a gaping wound on your leg, and you say, I don't know why I can't squat. And you go to a doctor and you say, Well, maybe it's because of this, this giant hole, giant hole in your leg, like you want to squat 400 dude, you squat and and blood drips from your leg. Bro, yep. No, we gotta re we gotta come off the squat rack to heal your leg. And then once it's healed, we'll get you there. But the question, they say this well, and it's just on my heart, but Doc, what if I lose what if my muscles atrophy? What if I lose progress? What if I you know? What if people you know say this, or what if this, this happens? So what? So what you going back there to heal is only to your advantage moving forward, because I can promise you, if you don't take time to rest and to stop and heal, when you begin to build your towers up to heaven, like to say, I gotta reach God this way, and you build your own towers that He's not asking you to build. You got to stand on top of each block to build it higher and higher and higher. And I promise you, when you fall, it's going to hurt a lot more falling from 40 feet than four feet. Yeah, come off the ladder now to work on a steadfast heart than trying to fall 40 feet, because the injury at 40 feet is going to be a lot harder than the injury at four feet. We have to also look at this, this other perspective too. It says in Hebrews, chapter three, verse 14, says, For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, we got to take it back to the analogy we used about Grant Fisher running the race. Yeah, I think God desires for us to just keep the pace,
Unknown Speaker 54:32
don't you?
Tony Benda 54:33
Yeah, I think, I think God looks for that steadfast relationship that just that intimacy. I think he really does search for that intimacy with his people, and that's done through a steadfast relationship, and that's done through the daily endurance race right while he makes himself known and he's. In those mountain top experiences of like, you know, summer camps for kids, or, you know, these, these conferences that we can attend, or whatever it is, a Christian concert, so to speak, he's in those moments for sure, because the Bible says when two or more gathered, he'll be there in the midst and like, while those are amazing experiences, that's all that they are. They're experiences, they're moments in time, they're not I don't want a God of experiences. I want a God of just daily devotion and relationship and and that, you know, just that warm, fuzzy wrap his arms around me, kind of like intimacy because of our quality of relationship. I
Josh Shaw 55:43
think the problem is that people perceive that God, that the things of God are just feelings, but it's a person. Oh, yeah, peace, for example, peace is not a feeling, it's a person. Yeah, God is love. People say, I want to feel peace. I is this going to give me peace? Peace is found in him, yeah, peace is him, not the feeling of peace, love is him, not. The feeling of love, our body is much more than just serotonin. Yes, I think we try to look for that goosebump experience in church, yeah? Like, if I don't feel the goosey woosies, then I'm not experiencing God. When, when you walk into a building where two or more are gathered, he's there, oh, yeah,
Tony Benda 56:30
gathered in His name, specifically, the enemy's
Josh Shaw 56:33
trap is that God is not present. Yes, that God is not for you. Like, and I'm preaching to myself, because I hit a moment, not three days ago, where I was like, Man, why did this God abandoned me? And it was the devil. It was it was the devil speaking out.
Tony Benda 56:50
Yeah, and, but we noticed that scripture says He will never leave us nor forsake
Josh Shaw 56:54
us. But that's the point of being steadfast. Yeah? That is steadfast living when you even though, in the midst of your situation, you remind yourself of the word like you just said, Well, God has abandoned me. Oh no, no, he's not. The Word of God says that He will never leave me nor forsake me. My heart is steadfast. O God. Why? Because I meditate on your word, Psalm 21 we need to be like trees planted by the river, planted by streams of water. I need to be like Jeremiah, whose trees, whose leaves do not wither in the drought or in the heat, and that they remain green. Oh, I'm sorry if they remain green in the midst of drought, and they do not wither even the midst of scorching. Yeah. That is steadfast living. No one ever taught me what the term steadfast meant, but Hebrews 314 if we become partakers of we, for we have become partakers of Christ, if the word if, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. The truth is this, how many stories have we heard of grand Christian preachers? And I use this example because there, there's we know of them that preached for 3040, years and had a terrible fall, and bad things happened, and they went. How did they get here? How did they go there? They were such they were so strong. They were so they preached so mightily. It's because their hearts weren't steadfast. The sins of their war, of their world of their immediate situation, get in them. The Bible says, Be angry and do not sin. Do not let do not give the enemy a foothold. Perfect scripture, be angry and do not sin.
Tony Benda 58:58
Yeah, there's a book out there that says, Do not give the enemy a seat at your table. But
Josh Shaw 59:03
the crazy part is, is that if we remain steadfast in Luke chapter 14, talk about a story that the humble or the Exalted will be humble, and the humble shall be exalted, the more we just simply remain steadfast and walk in humility, he's going to exalt us. He's going to make us like Grant Fisher, even though we trip and stumble at times, because we all will as believers, when you remain steadfast, He will exalt you. GRANT Fisher, all he had to do was be steadfast in a game of bronze medal in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Yeah, the racers that started at the front, at the beginning quickly got humbled, because they could not keep the pace.
Tony Benda 59:51
Yeah, it's an endurance race. Some people like to think of the Christian walk, the Christian journey. Me as a as a sprint. Then when they're out of breath on year two and they're hit with trials and tribulations, they're and they're not rooted firmly in the word like we need to be to then recall the verses of Be anxious for nothing, or my heart is steadfast. Oh God, my heart is like these things that we keep bringing to mind. We can't memorize the word unless we're in the word right, learning it to then recall it. Look
Josh Shaw 1:00:26
First Peter, chapter five, verse nine, resist Him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. But you're right. You hit on the key point in closing. The key point is being rooted. That's it. I think sometimes, if we just simply reminded ourselves that this Christian walk is like being a tree rather than the semantics of what a daily discipline looks like, we might walk this, walk a little bit better, and I'm preaching to myself. How many times did Jesus use parables about with nature?
Speaker 1 1:01:11
Well, that seems to be a common theme. So why aren't we living our life like that?
Josh Shaw 1:01:19
If my teacher, my rap. I mean, basically my rap. I'm gonna say it my rabbi. If my teacher tells me, my father tells me, have you ever considered the lilies? Have you considered the stars?
Speaker 1 1:01:42
Have you considered this nature? Example, his eyes on the sparrow, be considered the birds? Yeah.
Josh Shaw 1:01:51
Have we considered being like trees, planted, rooted, immovable objects stuck to the ground. Because even if the bulk of the tree gets cut off, how often do you see that even though the top part is broken off, that the root remains firm, the stump, that stump ain't going nowhere. Why? Because it's rooted. It's rooted. Not saying every tree is like that, but in our walk with Jesus, when we get to steadfast living, I bet I would 100% believe, even for you listeners, when you get to steadfast living, when you declare Psalm chapter 57 seven over your life, every single day, in the midst of every situation, whether it be the best situation or the worst situation, you will see heart transformation. But I'm not gonna lie in closing too, you will see the hardest trials. Why? Because for a long time, maybe your life has been up down, up down, up down, good moments, crappy moments, good moments, crappy moments. My wife and I went through a very hard season in our life. The common theme was, Josh, we have okay moments. We said we have good moments but bad days since the heat, since God has restored our marriage and healed us. And this is just my testimony. My wife specifically told me, Josh, we have great days and some bad moments. Why? Because I had to learn the art of being steadfast, the enemy is going to attack you, but first, Peter says, resist them and be steadfast in the faith. If you want to partake with Christ, you got to be steadfast to the very end. I had a really hard question, come to me today, Tony, can I tell you about it? Go for it. And this is our last little thing before we close out here. I'm a preacher, see, I said that three times, of course. So Ozzy Osbourne died today. Do you know that? Did he really? Yeah, no. Ozzy Osbourne died, and I
Josh Shaw 1:04:21
had a friend asked me today. She said, Josh, this is legit question. Said, Josh, if Ozzy Osbourne say Ozzy Osbourne killed himself assisted suicide, because I think he had Parkinson's, and that might be the debate, I don't know. Doesn't matter. She asked me, she's like, if he had assisted suicide, is he going to heaven or to hell? That's a hard question. And I said, Oh, you know, let me ponder on that for two hours. I was looking up scriptures, and this girl kept asking, When are you going to tell me your opinion? When you tell me your opinion? And I finally said, All right, I'll tell you my opinion. I said, Sure, for. Finally, share me your opinion. I share with her the Word of God. And I said in Paul's eyes, when we walk this Christian life, it says in Romans, chapter eight, verse 18, For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. We are known by our fruits.
Unknown Speaker 1:05:31
I said, my opinion is this
Josh Shaw 1:05:34
is not for me to determine where or where he is or where he isn't, I said, but in my life, whether it be assisted suicide or whatever, I must live my life, even in the midst of even the midst of my trials or how much pain I'm going through. I must live the Word of God, yeah, For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. So that's the opinion. In order to be Romans 818, to answer these questions for harm believers about random topics, to go through your moments of suffering and to worship in your moments of praise. Listeners like the Paladin is devoted to their oaths. Be devoted to the word Yep, learn to be stead fast and honestly. Tune in for next episode for Ranger, because, honestly, part two, I'm gonna spoil it now. No, go for it. We need to learn to become wilderness warriors. Yes,
Unknown Speaker 1:06:48
that's gonna
Josh Shaw 1:06:51
be fun, but it's been a great episode. And this is, I don't know how even, how long this episode is gonna be, but it's short, sweet, powerful, yes, all the above. Do not just remember it can get to you, but don't let it get in you. That's right. Tony, any last words that we got before we close out? Yeah, fully this time. Yeah. No, for real. This is the fourth, fifth, seventh, closing the fourth. I'm sorry, I love it. No, it's great.
Tony Benda 1:07:23
There are two scriptures I want to share. The first one being Psalm 27, 1314, I will remain confident of this. I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord. Be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. That verse came to mind just because of the steadfast nature that we have to take when we are, you know, walking this walk. So just remain confident in this that we'll see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. And then the final scripture that I'll close with is Psalm 119, 11, Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. It's not for the sake of not sinning, which is a great byproduct of hiding the word in our hearts, but hide the Word in your heart. So then if, if at the beginning of the book of John, it says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, the same was in the beginning with God. So if we're understanding that God is scripture, scripture is God, and we're hiding it in our heart, according to Psalm 119, 11. So we're hiding God Himself, Jesus, the Holy Spirit that we're hiding God this infinite being in our hearts, which then we can recall later in these times of worry or anxiety or depression or mountaintop experiences, or even the valleys, like Psalm 23 talks about, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no fear no evil. And that's because we can memorize Scripture. We can have it hidden in your heart. You don't have to memorize like the chapter and verse according to the chronology of the Bible that you know these 66 books that were set up. But if you're truly trying to remember and truly studying the word God, I think will bring to memory that which we've read, that which we've memorized, that which we've learned to then lean upon him in those times so hide His Word in your heart that I might not sin against thee. That's a great that's a great byproduct. So that's my encouragement and challenge for people out there today.
Josh Shaw 1:09:26
That's powerful. Tony, you know when, man, I'm just excited. I just feel like, folks, while you've been gone a little while, I just feel like there's, we're entering into a season as a podcast where the Lord is just going to speak just profound biblical wisdom. I think Tony and I are experiencing a lot of life separately and together, to where, when we come out on the other side, the Lord is just going to give us wisdom that maybe some of you guys might need for your days to come and listen, we're preaching to each other. I'm telling you, I don't save. These words without feeling I'm preaching myself too, without feeling major conviction, you know, through these things, and it's because Antonia, I will always say it, and it will just be, it will always come out of our mouth. We are not perfect. We are not angels. We are
Tony Benda 1:10:18
we are broken people trying to find healing through Scripture and through God and through, you know, fellowship. And it helps that we play D and D together. It does
Josh Shaw 1:10:27
and we and we always encourage just having repentant and contrite hearts. Yes, Jesus came for the Repentance and the remission of sins. And every day, I have to fall the off all my face and say, Lord, forgive me of my sins. Yeah, because that's what we have to do. So Tony, let's give our listeners our socials. And do you want to close and pray? You want me to close and pray today? I'll throw
Unknown Speaker 1:10:53
that part to you. I'll
Tony Benda 1:10:55
close at the socials. Our socials, folks that are out there still hanging on by a threat, not kidding. Thank you for hanging on. We're glad you still with us and listening. Our socials are strength check on Facebook and Instagram. We are at dungeons and disciples. That's the word am spelled out, dungeons and disciples. And you can also reach us at an email, dungeons disciples without the end. Dungeons disciples@gmail.com we love hearing from you guys and responding to you guys. We have received some emails, and we're in process of responding, if we haven't already, by the time this episode comes out, and we'll be great at response. And I've also noticed recently some comments on Spotify and iTunes, and thank you so much for recognizing the the difference in recording quality of that previous episode we have. Did we get some hate did we get hate mail? Not hate mail? No, no, just an observance. It was, it was a great observance. So thank you for reaching out on the comment. And actually, to be honest, that that warms my heart a bit, because you guys care, that that shows that you are paying attention and you care. So thank you to the folks that have recognized the audio difference. It bothered me. I'll just say it just bothered me that it was that I put an episode out there that was less than ideal for my quality of recording, and I'm making so many hand gestures because it just like, it's like nails on a chalkboard sometimes. Anyway,
Josh Shaw 1:12:31
you gotta look, hey, listen, if you're hanging around still listening, that's right, we're learning and we're
Tony Benda 1:12:36
growing, yes, and that's phenomenal. Microphones again, so one more time, our socials are at dungeons and disciples on Facebook and Instagram, and our Gmail is dungeons disciples@gmail.com Please reach out. We're looking forward
Josh Shaw 1:12:49
to it. Well, guys, thank you so much for listening today. And I want to close us in a time in prayer. And again we just thank you all for hanging on. Yes. So Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus. God, we come to you humbly. God, we ask that you would create a clean heart and renew a steadfast spirit within us. Lord, Lord, those of us listening, even ourselves in the studio. God, we are not perfect. God, I repent my own sins, for they are many. God, I thank You for Your forgiveness. I thank you for your heart on my life. I thank you that I've been able to just slow down with my brother tonight. God delivering a word that has impacted my own heart. God, I pray that this word that goes forth, God truly touches someone's heart and it just convicts their soul. Why? Because, God, we need to run this race with endurance, with strength. I pray that you bring other scriptures to mind, God that helps them be encouraged and strengthen. God we've provided, if we provided some here, God, but I just pray that you'd bring to mind the Word of God, Lord. Thank you,
Unknown Speaker 1:14:03
Lord, thank you
Josh Shaw 1:14:05
for what you've done for us on the cross, for your love in this time and for the joy that abounds even the midst of our sufferings, Lord, we will remain steadfast and attached to you in Jesus name we pray.
Tony Benda 1:14:25
Amen. Thanks, guys. You.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai