TPJ, Author at Timothy Paul Jones - Page 14 of 25

Apologetics: What’s So Special about the Bible?

23rd September 2015

Perhaps at one point or another, you have found yourself gazing down at a leather bound copy of a large book with small print titled The Holy Bible and asking the question, “Why did God decide to leave us with this?” This God-inspired book wasn’t an afterthought or an accident! Eternal eons before God created […]

Practical Family Ministry: A Book I’m Not Embarrassed to Beg You to Buy

21st September 2015

You may have noticed that I have a new book out that I co-edited with my colleague Dr. John David Trentham. In Practical Family Ministry, we’ve brought together several practitioners to provide you with a plethora of practical ideas to strengthen your church’s family ministry. Sometimes, I’m hesitant to ask you to purchase a book that I’ve written […]

Family Ministry: Three Truths and Three Tips for Engaging with Families in Your Church

16th September 2015

The animated feature The Incredibles is a favorite movie in our household—and one of our favorite scenes is the family meal early in the film. Dinner at the Parr household has deteriorated into pandemonium. The infant squeals in delight at the chaos as two siblings engage in super-powered combat. A frazzled mom strains unsuccessfully to […]

Apologetics: An Interview about How the Bible Came to Be

14th September 2015

Ivan Mesa, an editor for The Gospel Coalition, recently had a conversation with Timothy Paul Jones about how we got—and why we should trust—God’s Word, the topic of his recent book How We Got the Bible. At the bottom of this post, click on the coupon for a discount code that lets you buy the book for only $9.99–one-third off […]

Church History: Jan Hus, John Wycliffe, and the Word of God for Every Person

6th July 2015

In 1415, a church council gathered in the city of Constance. One of the items on their agenda was a heresy trial. In addition to ending a decades-long multiplicity of popes, the Council of Constance concluded that two particular priests had turned into heretics and that both of them must be burned. There was, however, […]

Church History: Father’s Day without a Father and the Unsung Stanzas of Amazing Grace

21st June 2015

Today, for the fourth year, I experience Father’s Day as a father but without a living father. My father passed away in the late summer of 2011. As far back as I can remember, his favorite hymn was “Amazing Grace.” I do not recall this song ever being sung without it drawing tears from his eyes. […]

Apologetics: A New Teaching Series on How We Got the Bible

4th June 2015

A few weeks from now, Rose Publishing will release a new book and video series entitled How We Got the Bible. The topic of the book and video series is—you guessed it!—how we got the Bible. (Click here for a quick peek at the video production process.) Here are a few of the topics I cover in […]

Apologetics: Why the “Lost Gospels” Were Lost

2nd June 2015

In 1945, a farmer named Muhammad ‘Ali al-Samman found a trove of ancient codices while searching for fertilizer. He and his brothers returned home with the thirteen papyrus books. That’s when his mother apparently used a few of the papyri as kindling in their stone oven.[i] Most of the texts, however, survived the kindling pile and […]

Apologetics: Early Testimonies about the New Testament Gospels

26th May 2015

In an earlier blog post, I explored the evidence that the four New Testament Gospels were linked with the names Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John from the time they first began to circulate in the churches. In this post, I want to dig a bit deeper into specific first- and second-century testimonies about the authorship of the […]

Apologetics: Who Really Wrote the Gospels?

12th May 2015

So who really wrote the Gospels? How do we know that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John dictated the books that bear their names? According to skeptics, these four first-century personalities had little or nothing to do with the four New Testament Gospels. One scholar of the more skeptical sort has described the process in this way:

Apologetics: Were the Gospels Written While the Eyewitnesses Were Still Alive?

5th May 2015

“The four Gospels that made it into the official canon were chosen,” Richard Dawkins declares in The God Delusion, “more or less arbitrarily, out of a larger sample of at least a dozen including the Gospels of Thomas, Peter, Nicodemus, Bartholomew, and Mary Magdalene. … The Gospels that didn’t make it were omitted by…ecclesiastics perhaps because […]

Family Ministry: Living in a Story that Leaves an Impression

4th March 2015

2015-02-22 Dr Timothy Jones from Tri-Cities Baptist Church on Vimeo.

Apologetics: Two Reasons Not to Use When Sharing Your Faith

5th January 2015

In my years as a pastor and professor, I’ve spoken with thousands of people—most of them firm believers in the biblical perspective on Jesus—about Christian apologetics and the historical foundations of their faith. In the process, I’ve heard multitudes of well-meaning Christians provide two particular reasons for their faith. The first reason runs something like this: “I just know Jesus […]

Church History: The Story of the Real Santa Claus

2nd December 2014

Today, St. Nicholas is mostly known as a paunchy old geezer who spends one night each year breaking into people’s houses and stealing cookies before escaping to an Arctic hideaway where elves do his work for him. Kind of creepy when you think about it. The good news is that none of this was what […]

PROOF: Martin Luther on Beards and Human Depravity

31st October 2014

There’s nothing we can do to change our sinful nature. From time to time, we may have calmed our consciences by pulling the plug on a sinful habit or two. Perhaps we flushed a few pills down the toilet, vowed not to gossip so much about our coworkers, or made a New Year’s resolution to […]

Family Ministry: The D6 Conference Celebrates Six Years

13th October 2014

D6 launched its first family ministry conference in 2009. Six years later, the D6 Conference has developed into a global community of leaders who are forming the future of family ministry. I’ve been privileged to partner with D6 since 2010, championing an environment where the church and home work together to shape the next generation. […]

Family Ministry: Join Me for Free Dinner and Family Ministry Forum at D6 Conference in Louisville

28th September 2014

Are you planning to attend the D6 Conference in Louisville? While you’re enjoying D6 Louisville, the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism, and Ministry at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary wants: * to take you to dinner, * to provide you with transportation to and from dinner, * to give you an opportunity to receive […]

Proclamation: The Search for a Shining Face

19th September 2014

God sent a shining face from beyond the sun, the wisdom of God in human flesh. Solomon once asked, “Who is like the wise?” (Ecclesiastes 8:1). God’s answer in the New Testament is, “This one, the eternal wisdom of God in a virgin’s womb. Here he is.” The Search for the Shining Face from Southern […]

Family Ministry: What Can You Do Right Now to Start Discipling Your Children?

17th September 2014

So what are a few practical discipleship practices that you could start this week in your household? Here’s what we are doing this week in our family—see if any of these practices might work in your household as well: This blog post was adapted from a video that I did for the D6 Conference. Videos […]

Family Ministry: Learning How to TIE

10th September 2014

One of the most important organizational principles in family-equipping ministry is don’t add any new programs. So how do you embrace a new approach to ministry without adding anything new? Find out here: This blog post was adapted from a video that I did for the D6 Conference. Videos provided courtesy of Right Now Media. […]