The Pleasures of God. John Piper

The publishers state on the cover "voted one of the century's top 100 books by World Magazine." It would be easy with such a build up for a book then to be a real let down.  Thankfully it wasn't. In fact I think that this was the John Piper book that I enjoyed the most to date.  It was first published in 2001 and many of the themes in the book appear in his other volumes.  The book comprises 10 chapters:

The pleasure of God in His Son

The pleasure of God in all He does

The pleasure of God in His creation

The pleasure of God in His fame

The pleasure of God in election

The pleasure of God in bruising His Son

The pleasure of God in doing good to all who hope in Him

The pleasure of God in the prayers of the upright

The pleasure of God in personal obedience and public justice

The pleasure of God in concealing Himself to the wise and revealing Himself to infants

One of the many things that I enjoy about reading John Piper is that you have to think, but more than that, you have to pause to worship the living Lord.  Another factor by which I judge a book is how often I say during the read - I need to preach on this.  It is safe to say that this thought appeared as I read each chapter.

Thoroughly recommended.  Even for the appendix, "Are there two will in God?" it is worth the money

Brothers we are not Professionals, John Piper

30 short punchy chapters to sort out slipping pastors. Took this on holidays this year and was challenged in every chapter. The chapters cover the full spectum of who we are as men, husbands and preachers. It covers what we should preach and how we should preach. Like all of Piper's writings this gets right under the radar and hits where it hurts. Every man thinking of the ministry or in the ministry should read this book yearly. You will not agree with all that John Piper says. He would not expect you too as long as you have a good biblical reason. The chapters that I found most challenging were the ones on prayer, our giving and keeping my languages up to date. In reality every chapter was a gold mine of helpful thoughts. This is a book to read on your knees, praying for forgiveness and grace to be the pastors that the Chief Shepherd wants us to be.