John Piper has completed yet another book. I continue to be amazed how he is able to write books faster than I can read them! His new book is titled What Jesus Demands From the World and is scheduled to be released on September 11, 2006 (according to the Publisher’s website). Below is an excerpt from a letter from Piper describing his new book:

Yesterday, June 1, I completed the major project of the sabbatical, a book called What Jesus Demands from the World. It is much larger than I anticipated—about 250 single-spaced pages (113,000 words). It is based on the double saying from Jesus in Matthew 28:18-20: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples . . . teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” Jesus has all authority in the universe and therefore lays claim to every nation. And he does it by saying they should be taught “all that I have commanded you.”

Therefore, I read the four Gospels and copied out all the commands plus many implied commands (like “blessed are the merciful” implies “be merciful”). There were over five hundred. Then after many efforts at distilling them, I grouped them into about thirty categories. Then I began to write chapters on those categories. Some of the chapters were long and I divided them. That resulted in a book of fifty modest chapters.

The goal of the book is God-glorifying obedience to Jesus. And since he told us to teach all the nations everything he commanded, I pray that the book will advance the cause of world missions. Thank you so much for praying. I said to some friends this morning: The gestation period was sixty years, the labor was eight weeks, and the birth a great relief. What life and usefulness the baby will have in this world, God will decide.