Abide and Go: From the Vine to the Nations

Pastor Carl Higashi, who jokes that he preaches about once a year, closes 2025 by asking what it looks like to be a disciple of Jesus. Disciples are called: Jesus invited his first followers to follow him and fish for people (Matthew 4:19), and Paul told the Corinthians to imitate him as he imitated Christ. Discipleship also costs something. Jesus calls us to take up our cross daily, and Pastor Carl shows how the apostles died for their faith. Wearing a University of Hawaii shirt the week of the Hawaii Bowl, he borrows from Kyle Idleman’s book Not a Fan: fans are in it for what they get, while followers are all in and “focus on the daily walk and a person and the person of Jesus.”

He tells how, in 2014, he hiked Diamond Head with a middle schooler, then kept falling asleep: at a men’s meeting, in his car and at a leaders’ meeting. Pastor Jay finally took him to get help. He had a 105-degree fever and septic shock. Doctors ran a line into his neck and pumped in seven antibiotics for two days, and he was told only one in seven people survive. “Abiding in Christ is like that kind of lifeline.”

In John 15:1-8, Jesus is the vine, the Father is the gardener and we are the branches. Pastor Carl explains that grapevines were a picture of Israel’s fruitfulness, and the crushed grape points to Christ’s blood at communion. While he recovered, his daughter prayed over him that the family would be okay even if he died, and he later saw how his wife had been discipling their kids through it. The gardener cuts off what doesn’t belong, such as pornography, excessive drinking or gambling. He also prunes, sometimes releasing people to be fruitful in the marketplace.

Remaining in Christ means believing he is God’s Son, receiving him as Lord and Savior, doing what his Word says, holding to the good news and loving his people. Pastor Carl compares his years without abiding, when he was a branch manager running on his own power, to the season when he returned to church, served, joined a small group and was later asked to become a pastor.

Fruit is love, joy, peace, kindness and generosity seen every day of the week. He names five areas where the church grows that fruit: worship, friendship, service, discipleship and evangelism. “We don’t do the gardens because we love gardening.” He closes with photos of local outreaches, the Aloha Gardens at Kaiser and Pastor Jay’s work in Japan, and with Jesus’ call to go and make disciples of all nations.