From a blog entitled Biblical Preaching comes this post–advice for preachers of all levels of experience, from the novice to the old-timers:

I don’t know if you count. My temperament tends to count. I keep track of what I’ve preached, when, to whom, etc. I keep records partially out of necessity and partially out of interest. Whether or not you count sermons, take a guess, which one is today’s? Is it number 15, or 100, or 1250, or 3500?

Let me encourage you today to preach as if it is your first. Preach with all the naivety of a new preacher. Remember? Back when you expected lives to be changed immediately by the sermon you preached. Back when the spring in your step conveyed an excitement about what God is doing in your life and what He wants to do in their lives. Forget the nerves, the mistakes, the unrefined skill, and so on. But remember the enthusiastic expectation of that first sermon. Preach like that today.

And preach as if it is your last. Imagine that today’s sermon had to count because there would be no more. Imagine that all the weight of God’s work in your life had to be transferred with urgency today to those sitting before you. Forget the slowness of mind that may come, or the feeble frame that you may have to carry up those steps. But imagine how powerful the weight of matured passion and perspective will be in your last ever sermon. Preach like that today.

Basically, what he is saying is this: preach as if this will be the only sermon a person in your audience will ever hear. Preach as if the rapture is coming as soon as you give the final “Amen.” Because one of these days, you’ll be right.