Daily Devotion for 03 October 2026 (18th Saturday after Pentecost)

0:00Welcome to the Daily Devotions podcast from Confident Faith. I am Corey J. Moller, a contributor here at Confident Faith and I will be your reader today. This 19th Saturday after Pentecost, the 3rd of October. In the year of our Lord, 2026, in the time of the Church. There are no feasts, festivals or commemorations on the calendar today. Our readings for today are Psalm 119, verses 9 through 16. Psalm 125, Deuteronomy chapter 4, verses 1 through 20, Matthew chapter 7, verses 13 through 29,

1:03and paragraphs 24 through 28, of Article 14 of the apology of the Augsburg confession. We will close, as always, with the Lord's Prayer. Today's first reading from the Psalter is from the 119th Psalm and we will be reading verses 9 through 16. In what will the Younger set his way upright in the guarding of your words? In a whole heart I have sought you out. Do not thrust me away from your commandments. In my heart I have hidden your oracles that I may not sin against you. Blessed are you, O Lord, teach me your ordinances. With my lips I have declared all the judgments of your mouth. In the way of your testimonies I have been delighted as upon all well. In your commandments I will talk at length, and I will seek out your ways. In your ordinances I will practice. I will not forget your words.

2:07Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forevermore. Amen. Today's second reading from the Psalter is the 125th Psalm. Those who have trusted upon the Lord are as a mountain of Zion. He who dwells in Jerusalem will not be shaken unto the age. Mountains are a rounder, and the Lord is around his people. From now and until the age, because he will not let go the rod of the sinners upon the lot of the just, so that the just may not stretch out their hands in lawlessness. Do good, O Lord, to the good, and to those who are straight in heart. But those who turn aside into the strangling knots the Lord will lead away, with those who work lawlessness, peace upon Israel.

3:08Glory be to the Father, and the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forevermore. Amen. Today's Old Testament reading comes from the Book of Deuteronomy, and we will be reading the fourth chapter, verses 1-20. And now Israel hear the statutes and judgments that I am teaching you to do today, so that you may live and after you have entered, may inherit the land that the Lord the God of your fathers is giving you. You shall not add to the word I command you, and you shall not take away from it. Keep the commandments of the Lord your God with which I command you today. Your eyes have seen all that the Lord your God did to Baal Fagor, that every person who went after Baal Fagor, the Lord your God wiped him out from among you. But those of you who held fast to the Lord your God are all alive today.

4:11See I have shown you statutes and ordinances, as the Lord has commanded me, to do so in the land into which you are entering there to inherit it. And you shall keep and do them, because this is your wisdom and discernment before all the nations, as many as might hear all these statutes, and they will say, look, this great nation is a wise and understanding people, for what sort of great nation has a God for itself so near to them. As the Lord our God is in everything whenever we invoke Him, and what sort of great nation has for itself statutes and righteous judgment, in accord with all this law that I am giving before you today. Take heed to yourself and guard your soul closely, lest you forget all the things that your eyes have seen, and let them not be far from your heart all the days of your life. And you shall direct your sons and your sons' sons about the day when you stood before the Lord your God at horib. On the day of the assembly, when the Lord said to me, assemble the people to me, and let

5:15them hear my words so that they may learn to fear me, all the days as long as they live on the earth, and may teach their sons. When you approached and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire up to the sky, darkness gloom tempest, and the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but you did not notice a likeness, only a voice, and he announced to you his covenant, which he commanded you to do, the ten words, and he wrote them on two stone tablets. And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, for you to do them in the land into which you are entering there to inherit it. And guard your souls closely, because you did not notice a likeness on the day the Lord spoke to you at horib, in the mountain from the midst of the fire. Do not act lawlessly and make for yourselves an engraved likeness, any kind of icon, a likeness of male or female, a likeness of any animal of those that are on the earth, a likeness

6:17of any winged bird that flies under the sky, a likeness of any reptile that creeps on the ground, a likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth. And do not, when you look up to the sky, and see the sun and the moon and the stars, even any ornament of the sky, be led astray and do obeisance to them and serve them, those things that the Lord, your God, is allotted to all the nations beneath the sky. And God has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to become for him and allotted people, as in this day. This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Today's New Testament reading comes from the Book of Matthew, and we will be reading the Seventh Chapter, verses 13-29.

7:41A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name, and do many might he works in your name? And then will I declare to them, I never knew you, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock, and the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock, and everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand, and the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and

8:46beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. And when Jesus finished these sangs the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes. This is the word of the Lord. May God bless you, and may God bless you. Today's reading from the Book of Concord comes from the apology of the Augsburg confession, and we will be reading Article 14, paragraph 24 through 28. Article 14, order in the church. In Article 14 we say that no one should administer the word in sacraments unless he is rightly called. The adversaries accept the article, but on the condition that we use canonical ordination. About this subject we have often testified in this assembly that it is our greatest desire to keep church orders and ranks, even though they have been made by human authority.

9:50We know that church discipline in the manner laid down in the ancient cannons was set up by the fathers for a good and useful purpose, but the bishops either urge our priests to reject and condemn the doctrine we have confessed, or by a new and unheard of cruelty, they put the poor innocent men to death. These causes hinder our priests from recognizing such bishops. The cruelty of the bishops is the reason why the canonical government, which we greatly desire to keep, is dissolved in some places. Let them see how they will answer to God for tearing apart the church. In this matter our consciences are not in danger, since we know that our confession is true godly and Catholic. We should not approve the cruelty of those who persecute this doctrine. We know that the church is among those who teach God's word rightly and administer the sacraments rightly. The church is not with those who try hard to wipe out God's word by their orders, and also put to death those who teach what is right and true.

10:50Toward them even the very cannons are gentler, even though they do something contrary to the cannons. Furthermore, we want to declare again that we will gladly keep church and canonical government, so long as the bishops stop attacking our churches. Our request will acquit us both before God and among all nations forever, from the charge that we have undermined the authority of the bishops. People will acquit us when they read and hear that, although protesting against the unrighteous cruelty of the bishops, we could not obtain justice. This concludes our reading from the book of Concord. I now invite all of you to join me in reciting the Lord's Prayer, one of the most ancient prayers of the church. I do encourage you to say it aloud if you are somewhere reasonable to do so, but praying it silently is, of course, also fine. The Lord knows what is in your heart. Lord, remember us in your kingdom and teach us to pray.

11:53Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. Go in peace and grace to serve our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, in whatever calling has been giving you, or tasks that be for you, until tomorrow. God be with you.