What a relief to find Jesus and to simply worship Him, along with enjoying fellowship with His people. Be encouraged to stay close and to sincerely pray for each other.
Have you noticed how the world around us is predominantly filled with some smug folk who like to shrug with their arms, not hear, totally ignore individuals, or quickly dismiss the needy? Many (not all) are unfriendly, clickish, disinterested, and uncaring. But that's how the world is.
"If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." Jn. 15:19 nkjv
"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." 1 Jn. 2:15
"Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him." 1 Jn. 3:1
Love real fellowship instead of the world! You know that not all individuals in the world are like that--heartless and uncaring. People in Christian churches shouldn't ever be like that, but even in those seasons when you feel unseen, unheard, or in desperate need yourself, God calls His people (regenerated Christian believers) to go love and to go share Bible truth, including the gospel message. This is not a suggestion—this is what the Bible teaches. This type of selfless love is what the heartbeat of God for all saved and lost sinners is all about. With Christ as Lord, this is what we all are take part in.
I've heard it said, believer, that if you have not found a caring, believing friend at church (one that you can really relate to), then your next step might very well be.. out the door. That tragically happens too much, but it doesn't need to happen. We each need to get out of our self so to speak, and be that friend, finding common ground in relating, especially at church.
The Christian life was never meant to be lived in isolation, though we all enjoy regularly getting alone with the Lord. A coal left all alone soon grows cold, but coal and embers gathered together glow hot with renewed fire. Do you need to reignite the flames of holy passion for God?
Stay tight with Jesus and His (non-cold-hearted) people. Yes, grow red hot spiritually together. So it is with the Lord's church: believers near one another burn brighter in their biblical faith, in courage, and selfless love. Hebrews urges us not to forsake assembling for fellowship, prayer, acceptable worship, but to all the more stir one another up “to love and good works” (Heb. 10:24–25).
Jesus, in sending His disciples, was painfully honest: “I am sending you out as sheep among wolves” (Matthew 10:16). Sheep are vulnerable. Alone, they are prey; but near the Shepherd, they are safe. Our Lord never promised ease, but He did promise His presence, even amid persecution and betrayal. Paul said plainly, “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12 see context). A wolf-pack is real, and soon hungry. Yet so is the Shepherd real. He vigilantly loves and guards His flock. The Shepherd really cares--He lays down His life for His sheep.
"The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My [sheep], and am known by My own. "As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep." Jn. 10:15 nkjvThose of the world like to twist what's so, or gaslight, and lie to get you isolated. It happens a lot -- they get you totally separated from your family and other growing believers if they can. And history bears this out, even recently.
The early church believers stayed tight. They rejoiced together that they were counted worthy to suffer for Christ’s name (Acts 5:41). Today, research from George Barna shows that nearly 42% of Christians who drifted from church during the pandemic also reported feeling spiritually stagnant. Like embers scattered, many cooled in their zeal. But those who remained in fellowship testified to a stronger, steadier faith.
Fellowship, then, is not to be optional or dictatorial—it about survival and growth.
C. H. Spurgeon once said, “The sheep is never so safe as when it follows the shepherd, and never so safe as when it keeps with the flock.” Wolves lurk and follow after, but together under Christ’s care, we will go the distance and endure.
And though we live now as lambs among wolves, the millennium will come when “the wolf shall dwell with the lamb” (Isaiah 11:6). Until then, we walk wisely together, we love Him and each other deeply, and we stay close no matter what—yes, to Christ, and to one another.
Jesus modeled this perfectly. He walked among crowds who sometimes rejected Him, He healed the sick when He Himself was feeling weary, and He spoke words of life to the hopeless, even while facing full betrayal and that cruel cross. “When He went ashore, He saw a great crowd, and He had compassion on them and healed their sick” (Matt. 14:14). Physically exhausted and emotionally taxed, Jesus still cared and served people. “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands… got up and washed His disciples’ feet” (John 13:3–5). His agape love was not conditional on Him feeling appreciated or cared for by people—it was rooted in faithfulness to the Father, in obedience to Authority, and in the Father’s soul-winning mission.
We too, are called to this radical love: to care when no one notices, to share truth when it seems unwanted (are they open to hearing truth--are they a green light, red light or yellow light person? Share with those open to hearing truth and pray for the closed-minded). We are to act as Christ’s hands and feet and mouth even when we ourselves feel needy or empty inside. Christ will meet our needs as we look to Him and we can choose to be need-meeters as well by His power.
Paul reminds us, “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us” (2 Cor. 5:20). And in doing so, we experience what Joni Eareckson Tada described: “The weaker we feel, the harder we lean on God. The harder we lean, the stronger we grow.”
Sheep Among Wolves: Staying Close to Christ and His People
1. Fellowship with God First
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Jesus said, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me” (John 15:4).
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Our first priority ministry is to the Lord, yes, this fellowship is vertical—before it is horizontal. A Christian out of step with God will not walk well with others. Daily prayer (getting real with God relationally), daily Bible study (hearing Him), fellowship with God and believers, and witnessing are to remain primary.
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A.W. Tozer wrote, “The man who would truly know God must give time to Him.”
Opt to begin each day with prayer and the word (for listening to God), drawing near to the Shepherd in prayer and Scripture. Without Him, we are powerless; with Him, even wolves cannot destroy us.
"Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded." James 4:7-8
2. Fellowship with God’s People
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Hebrews exhorts: “Let us not give up meeting together.. but encourage one another” (Hebrews 10:25).
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George Barna's research (in 2022) found that 56% of Christians who stopped attending church during the pandemic reported feeling spiritually stagnant, while those who stayed engaged in fellowship grew in faith and resilience.
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Spurgeon warned, “Satan always hates Christian fellowship; it is his policy to keep Christians apart. Anything which can divide saints from one another he delights in.”
Like embers in a fire, our faith burns much brighter, tight together. Not immorally tight, but rightly together. Left alone, we cool off quickly.
3. Expect Spiritual Opposition, but Stay United In Fellowship
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Jesus warned: “I am sending you out as sheep among wolves” (Matthew 10:16). Alone, sheep (not real smart) are very vulnerable; in the flock and near the Shepherd, they are safe.
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Paul told the Ephesian elders, “Savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock” (Acts 20:29).
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Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Deutschland during the darkest years observed, “The physical presence of other Christians is a source of incomparable joy and strength to the believer.”
* Application: Don’t be surprised when hostility comes. Expect it—but don’t face it alone. Stay linked arm in arm with believers who will pray, encourage, and carry burdens with you.
4. Jesus Is Our Ultimate Reward And Living Hope
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Jesus promised: “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10).
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Today’s struggles point us to tomorrow’s peace: “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb” (Isaiah 11:6).
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Horatio Spafford, after losing his daughters at sea, penned, “Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul.” His faith endured because it was rooted in Christ and supported by believers around him.
Keep Jesus and eternity in view. Persecution, loneliness, or struggle is not the end of the story for believers. Read the whole Bible. Christ’s Kingdom is.
* I Respectfully Implore If I May.. I Exhort You To Grow And Properly Mature in the Word:
Stay close to the Shepherd, and close to the flock. Fellowship with Christ and His people is not a luxury—it’s the lifeline that keeps the embers of faith burning BRIGHT (WITH HIS LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS) until the Day dawns for us.
Will lawlessness increase? Yes, but those who endure to the end in Jesus will be saved.
Even when we long for care ourselves, God’s grace equips us to serve. Our witness is not dependent on the world’s response—it is dependent on God’s faithfulness flowing through us. Like Christ, we act in love because the world needs it, and because He first loved us.
My heart and my flesh may fail, but God is the strength in my heart and my portion forever!
"We must continue to hold firmly to our declaration of faith. The one who made the promise is faithful. We must also consider how to encourage each other to show love and to do good things. We should not stop gathering together with other believers, as some of you are doing. Instead, we must continue to encourage each other even more as we see the day of the Lord coming." Hebrews 10:23-25 gw
Lord, keep us, and help us stay in fellowship with your saints. Heard a man say they went to a church with good Bible teaching, but the people there were unfriendly and cliquish. Many of the people were tight because they interacted daily due to their children being in the church school. Be the biblical change you want to see at church. Live spiritual and friendly, but don't go away from a sound church unless the Lord leads your family to a better one for their growth. Perhaps that pastor there needs to teach better on friendly outreach and warmhearted fellowship?
"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching." nkjv
* Bible Teaching Churches For The Most Part Are Caring? Yes.
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Volunteering & Service: Pew Research found that 58% of weekly church attenders volunteer compared to only 27% of non-attenders.
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Charitable Giving: Barna reports that Christians who attend Bible-teaching churches give nearly 3x more to charity than the general population.
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Community Impact: Lifeway Research notes 70% of churchgoers say they have someone in their church they could call on for help in a crisis. Outside church, those numbers drop significantly.
* Imperfect as spiritually healthy churches can be, I've met a lot of caring people in them (all are still flawed and led by flawed pastors under the flawless Lord. I challenge the elders, decons, leaders to set the warmhearted-tone, culture, example in being friendly and caring. Reach out!).
The data shows that caring, giving, and support are consistently higher among Bible-believing Christians than in the wider world.
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“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” — John 13:35
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“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” — Galatians 6:2
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“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together…” — Hebrews 10:24–25
* Give yourself to Lord first, and to wise serving in His flawed Church. You that are members of a local body, the church, have certainly not found His Bride perfect, and I hope that you feel almost glad that you have not. If I had never got involved in a worshipping and Bible teaching Church until I had found one that was flawless, I should never have joined one at all.
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Tim Keller: “The church is not a museum for saints but a hospital for sinners.”
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Billy Graham: “Churchgoers are not perfect people, but they are forgiven people — and they are learning to forgive and love as Christ loved them.”
Need Some Insight From Christ? Man, I do!
The world often shouts “I don’t care”—they maintain a culture of stuff, and self-focus, of hustle at the expense of others, and detachment from caring. But inside even an imperfect Bible-teaching church, you’ll still find a higher concentration of people who care—because Christ first cared for them.
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Jesus Himself shows the pattern: He cared when He was really exhausted (feeding the 5,000, Mark 6:31–34), He cared when He was completely ignored (washing the disciples’ feet, John 13), and He cared when He was abandoned (on the cross, forgiving His executioners, Luke 23:34).
"Jesus did not say that the whole world should go to church. No, He said that the church should go to the whole world." ~ Greg Laurie
The Bible says that in the last days, there will be people who creep into our local churches who are not true believers. Be discerning like a Berean. Test the spirits in the right way. Be a fruit inspector and evaluate their messages. They are posers, among other things. The religious Pharisees did that posing too and fooled many--don't be like them! Did you know you can gain a hard heart right inside a church.. if you don't properly respond to the Spirit and Bible message. Because of watered-down messages and compromise today, people will feel comfortable in certain churches because they are never confronted with the bad news of their sin..before the good news. As a witness for Jesus, you and I need to care enough to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable so to speak.
* So, when they're not so friendly other there.. when you’re not feeling cared for.. cuz perhaps they really are clickish in a so called church, the statistics, Scripture, and testimonies still remind you to find fellowship upwards and outwards. There are some healthy church fellowships.. or perhaps to start.:
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There’s still more caring inside Christ’s body (I mean a healthy biblical local church) than outside in the world.
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Christ Himself is the ultimate model—caring when no one cared for Him.
Have you prayed about starting a Bible study prayer time at or near your school or work? Maybe the boss or principal would lend you a room to use?
When Love Grows Cold In The Final Days: You Can Still Be Caring In This World That Doesn’t Care! It's A Daily Choice.
Jesus was blunt about the last days: “Because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold” (Matt. 24:12). The picture is chilling—a world running low on compassion, a culture growing numb to the cries of the vulnerable. And if we are honest, we see signs of it now. Churches are imperfect, but compared with the loneliness of the world, they remain oases of care. Barna found that nearly 9 in 10 practicing Christians trust their local pastor—a stark contrast to the withering trust in most institutions. Even flawed congregations bear more fruit of compassion than the cold machinery of secular life.
Still, Jesus warned us: the days ahead would test our hearts. When love grows cold, consciences harden. Paul called it a “seared conscience” (1 Tim. 4:2)—as if the nerve endings of the soul have been cauterized until it no longer feels guilt or grace. This is the tragedy of sin unchecked, pride unconfessed, and truth suppressed. Romans 1 describes it as God “giving them over” to a reprobate mind. The hardened heart is not born overnight—it calcifies slowly, through forgetfulness, pride, and rebellion.
But true believers are sustained by a different power. “Love never fails” (1 Cor. 13:7). “The fruit of the Spirit is love” (Gal. 5:22), and that Spirit cannot grow cold, for it is the very life of Christ within us. Jude reassures us that Jesus “is able to keep you from falling” (Jude 24). That is why Paul could say, “Hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 5:5).
The question then is not whether love will fail—it cannot—but whether we will guard and nurture it. That’s why Paul prayed, “that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight” (Phil. 1:9). Love, unlike human emotion, is not fragile sentiment—it is an act of obedience, a choice empowered by grace.
D. L. Moody once said, “Out of 100 men, one will read the Bible; the other 99 will read the Christian.” When the world is freezing over, one warm act of Spirit-led compassion is a gospel sermon louder than words.
What did Corrie ten Boom say? “There is no pit so deep, that God’s love is not deeper still.” And every hymn that has steadied the saints whispers the same truth: "O Love that wilt not let me go.”
So how do we keep from getting cold ugly hearts and seared consciences? We repent quickly when you sin and follow Jesus closely. We remember often. We rehearse the ways God has cared for us. We root ourselves in Him the living Word. We memorize Scripture verses and passages that address our weaknesses, which is “God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16). And we stay in close (non-dominating or lording it over type of controlling) fellowship with God’s people, imperfect as they are. Yes, churches have flaws, but there is more real care in them than in the indifferent tides of the world.
Love may grow cold in the culture, but in Christ it burns unquenchably. The darker the days, the brighter the witness. And when the world says, “I don’t care,” the church of Jesus must say with hands and heart, “We care—because He first cared for us.” Believer, you and I are the rsponders, and God is the Initiator.
My dad (Rodney Kim) was saved from acholisim in SoCal. He always viewed the Christian Church respectfully, but like a very flawed wooden shed way out in a cold snow storm where many procupines kept trying to find safety together. He told me this a couple times.
There is a real danger of not getting into that shed and Christ is the only one that gives each of us entrance. Repentance and faith faith in Jesus, that's what we each need. Get in Christ first, yes get biblically saved and then find and get in a healthy church why she wants you to.. as he will lead you to.
A German philosopher named Arthur Schopenhauer is credited for speaking about this porcupine dilemma, asking: How is it that porcupines are supposed to stay warm through the wintertime?
If they come together into that shed, if they huddle up together, they'll survive. The problem is that their sharp quills keep on poking into each other.
They’re going to cause pain to one another. Is it untenable? So should this mean that because I experience pain at times, I should abandon that group huddling together out of the cold and go out on my own?
Man, if a porcupine chose to do that, he would go out and just freeze to death.
No, it’s necessary for all of them to stay inside and together.
Ain't that picture for us saved sinners within the Church as we struggle to get through the winter, so to speak? Sometimes, huddling together with other flawed people.. sometimes being so close to each other with all those quills seems unreasonable. Those things poke and wound us, causing pain, and our own quills are going to cause pain to other people around us. Yet for us, as Christians, we are encouraged to bear with one another's flaws, to encourage one another in spite of them, and to give spiritual warmth and support to one another. We are encouraged to show love, empathy, and understanding to one another.
Some saved sinners and lost sinners bail out because they've been stuck more than once. How could church involvement really be God's will for me? I'm wounded.
I hate those pokey quills around us! Then we realize that our Lord Jesus was willing to come and huddle close with us sinners here in this fallen world.
Come repentantly to Christ as you are today, knowing that He is there for you--He will forgive and change you for the better. He alone saves! The Bible says, "..for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23 nkjv
