Daily Devotion for 17 April 2026 (Easter 2, Friday)

Welcome 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 Friday, in the second week of Easter, the 17th of April.

In the year of our Lord, 2026, in the time of Easter, there are no feasts, festivals, or

commemorations on the calendar today.

Our readings for today are Psalm 92.

Exodus chapter 31 verses 1 through 18, Luke chapter 6 verses 1 through 19, and paragraph

62 through 68 of Article 7 of the Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord.

We will close, as always, with the Lord's Prayer.

Today's reading from the Psalter is the 92nd Psalm.

It is good to acknowledge the Lord and to make music to your name a most high, in order

to declare your mercy in the morning and your truth every night, on a 10 string at harp,

with an ode on a liar, because you, O Lord, made me glad by your work, and at the deeds

of your hands I will rejoice.

Hower your deeds extolled, O Lord, your thoughts reached great depth.

A foolish man cannot know, and a stupid one will not understand these things.

When sinners sprang up like grass, also all who practice lawlessness popped up, so that

they may be destroyed forever and ever.

But you are most high forever, O Lord, because look your enemies, O Lord, because look your

enemies shall perish, and all those who practice lawlessness shall be scattered.

And my horn will be exalted like a unicorns, and my old age with thick oil, and my eye looked

at my enemies, and among those who keep rising against me doing evil my ear will hear.

A righteous one will flourish like a palm, and like a cedar in Lebanon he will increase,

planted in the house of the Lord, in the courts of our God they will flourish.

In prosperous old age they will still increase, and they will be living in comfort, to declare

the Lord my God is upright, and there is no injustice in him.

Glory 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, O men.

Today's Old Testament reading comes from the book of Exodus, and we will be reading

the 31st chapter, verses 1 through 18.

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Look, I have summoned by name Bezeliel, the son

of Uri, son of her, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with a divine spirit of

skill and intelligence and knowledge in every work, to be designing and to construct, to fashion

the gold and the silver and the bronze, and the blue and the purple and the spun scarlet,

and the twisted linen, and the stone works, and for the works crafted from wood, to fashion

according to all the works.

And I have appointed him in Aliab the son of a Kismak, from the tribe of Dan, and to

everyone intelligent at heart I have given intelligence, and they shall make all things

that I instructed you.

The tent of witness, and the ark of the covenant, and the propitiatory that is on it, and the furnishings

the tent, and the altars in the table, and all its utensils, and the pure lampstand, and

all its utensils, and the wash basin at its base, and Aaron's ministry vestments, and

the vestments of his sons to serve me as priests, and the oil of anointing, and the incense

of the mixture for the sanctuary, according to all that I commanded you, they shall do.

And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, and you instruct the sons of Israel saying, observe

and keep my Sabbaths, for it is a sign with me and among you for your generations, in order

that you may know that I am the Lord who concentrates you.

And you shall keep the Sabbaths because this is holy for you.

The one who profanes it shall with death be put to death.

Everyone who will do work in it, that soul shall be destroyed from among his people.

For six days you shall do works, but on the seventh day there is Sabbath, arrest holy to

the Lord.

Everyone who does work on the seventh day shall be put to death.

And the sons of Israel will keep the Sabbaths to observe them throughout their generations,

and everlasting covenant, with me and the sons of Israel.

It is an everlasting sign, because in six days the Lord made the heaven and the earth,

and on the seventh day he stopped and rested.

And he gave Moses when he stopped speaking to him on the mountain Sinai, the two tablets

of witness, stone tablets written by the finger of God.

This is the Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Today's New Testament reading comes from the book of Luke, and we will be reading the

sixth chapter, verses 1 through 19.

On a Sabbath while he was going through the grain fields, his disciples plucked and ate

some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands.

But some of the Pharisees said, why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?

And Jesus answered them, have you not read what David did when he was hungry?

He and those who were with him, how he entered the house of God, and took and ate the bread

of the presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it

to those with him.

And he said to them, the son of man is Lord of the Sabbath.

On another Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose

right hand was withered, and the scribes and the Pharisees watched him to see whether

he would heal on the Sabbath so that they might find a reason to accuse him.

But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand, come and stand

here, and he rose and stood there.

And Jesus said to them, I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm,

to save life or to destroy it?

And after looking around at them all, he said to him, stretch out your hand, and he did

so, and his hand was restored.

But they were filled with fury, and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer

to God.

And when day came he called his disciples and shows from them twelve, whom he named apostles,

Simon whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John and Philip and

Bartholomew, and Matthew and Thomas and James the son of Alphius, and Simon who was called

the zealot, and Judas the son of James and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

And he came down with them and stood on a level place with a great crowd of his disciples,

and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and the sea coast of Tyre

and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases, and those who were troubled

with unclean spirits were cured, and all the crowds sought to touch him, for power came

out from him and healed them all.

This is the word the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Today's reading from the book of Concorde comes from the solid declaration of the formula

of Concorde, and we will be reading Article 7, paragraph 62 through 68.

This spiritual eating is nothing other than faith.

It means to hear God's word in which Christ, true God and man, is presented to us, together

with all his benefits that he has purchased for us by his flesh, given into death for us,

and by his bloodshed for us, namely God's grace, the forgiveness of sins, righteousness

and eternal life.

It means to receive it with faith and keep it for ourselves.

It means that in all troubles and temptations we firmly rely, with sure confidence and trust,

and abide in this consolation.

We have a gracious God and eternal salvation because of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The other eating of Christ's body is oral or sacramental.

When Christ's true essential body and blood are orally received and partaken of, in the

holy supper, by all who eat and drink the consecrated bread and wine in the supper.

This is done by the believing is a certain pledge and assurance that their sins are surely

forgiven them and that Christ dwells in them and is at work in them.

This supper is received by the unbelieving for their judgment and condemnation.

The words of the institution by Christ clearly declare this.

At the table and during the supper he offers his disciples natural bread and natural wine,

which he calls his true body and true blood.

At the same time he says, eat and drink.

In view of the circumstances, this command clearly cannot be understood as anything other

than oral eating and drinking.

However, this is not a crude, carnal, capperniatic way, but in a supernatural way beyond understanding.

Afterward, the other command adds still another spiritual eating.

When the Lord Christ says further, this do in remembrance of me, he requires faith.

All the ancient Christian teachers teach clearly and in full agreement with the entire holy

Christian church.

According to these words of Christ's institution and the explanation of St. Paul, Christ's body

is not only received spiritually through faith, which occurs also outside of the sacrament,

but also orally, not only by believing in godly people, but also by unworthy, unbelieving,

false and wicked Christians.

As it is too long to be listed here, we would for the sake of brevity have the Christian

reader referred to the exhaustive writings of our theologians.

Hence it is manifest how unjustly and maliciously the sacramentarian fanatics, they adore Beza,

deride the Lord Christ, St. Paul and the entire church.

In calling this oral partaking and that the unworthy do os pilos cauday equinay et

comentum cuios vel ypsum satanum pudiat, as also the doctrine concerning the majesty

of Christ, excrementum satanay, co diabolo si bi ypsi et hominibus iludat, that is they

speak so horribly of it that a godly Christian man should be ashamed to translate it.

This concludes our reading from the book of Concorde.

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.

Our 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.

And whatever calling has been given you, or tasks said before you, until tomorrow, God

be with you.