In this video, Fr. Philip Hall teaches that the Christian calling is not easy, but a life of endurance, virtue, service, and God-given strength.
This is a sermon recorded on September 28th, 2025 at the All Saints of Lincolnshire Orthodox Christian Church, Lincoln, England.
Watch the full sermon on Archimandrite Philip’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcliynqLBys
Fr. Philip:
He said to him, “Your job from now on is going to be catching men.” And there are some who will tell you that a call from the Lord is a call to a beautiful and easy life. A life. And we see some people feathering their nests with magnificent cars, even airplanes, beautiful homes, and magnificent swimming pools.
But what did this job look like? St. Paul is quick to tell us. He says this. Is it all vestments? No. Is it all beautiful music? No. Is it all wonderful services? No. It’s like this endurance, afflictions, hardships, calamities. It is full of beatings and imprisonment, torment, labor, watching, and hunger. Not all of us suffer all of those things, but all of those things are suffered by those called by the Lord somewhere on earth right now.
And you might say to yourself, “Oh, could I manage this?” The answer is yes, because the Lord will give you the equipment to do that. The equipment not only to be able to cope with the hardships of following the Lord, but the equipment to do the job of being a fisher of men. St. Paul tells us what that equipment is as well, the net as it were. It is this purity, knowledge, forbearance, kindness, genuine love, truthful speech, and of course the Holy Spirit and the power of God behind you.
So what about us? What is our Christian life like? Well, nothing has changed. We too must be generous and hospitable and obedient to God. And as we do that, we’ll find that we become more repentant, more changing towards the Lord. And as that happens, we become open to the Lord’s instruction for each one of us.
For different people, different things. for me being a priest. For you may be also being a priest or an evangelist, a teacher, a writer, a politician, a scientist, a kind and goodly neighbor, a philanthropist, a finder of the lost, a parent or a foster parent, a missionary, a a teacher, a feeder of the hungry, a dresser of the poor, a quencher of the thirst to those people who are thirsty, or perhaps, simply put, a fisher of men.
And when that happens, you’ll find yourself in a strange state. You may have nothing, and yet you will have God. And having God, you therefore possess everything. Your prayers. God bless you. Amen.
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