IMPORTANT MOMENTS IN LIFE WHEN YOU JUST HAVE TO DO “WHATEVER IT TAKES”

So we go into the word and uh as we promised about two weeks ago that we persuaded to share a second part and this is going to be much better and clearer on the message that was shared about four five weeks ago. And so we share today on whatever it takes. And this is a part two of this message. Whatever it takes. Important moments in life when you just have to do whatever it takes.

Our test is taken from Esther chapter 4 verse 1-17. When it comes to doing whatever it takes to achieve some critical goal, one of the major strategies that is applied to date is the strategy of external motivation. When we say external motivation, that has to do with you use the word external because it's not coming from within the person that is being motivated. So when you want to get people to do whatever it takes, one of the most effective keys is the key of motivation. Now this key has a positive dimension and it also has a negative dimension and these two dimensions of motivation are very very effective. Sometimes it is the negative kind of motivation that is going to move that man or woman to do the needful.

If you look at this story here now, you can see that Esther wasn't being promised some a major reward to rise to action. Modiah rather activated the negative kind of motivation and that comes in the form of could come in the form of punishment. It could come in the form of a threat of what could happen to that person if that person does not do the needful.

Our Lord Jesus Christ also emphasized this approach in Luke chapter 19 verse 12-26. He gave the story of a man who was traveling and he called his 10 servants and gave each of them some amount of money. The same amount of money gave each one of them and told them to invest until he comes back. And when he eventually came back, the first person show servant showed up and said, "Sir, with the money you give me, I have made times 10." And he was so impressed. And he said, "I reward you." Take note of the word reward. I reward you with by making you governor of 10 cities. Then the next servant came forward and said, I have also multiplied the investment capital that you give me and have raised it times five. And he said, "Wow, that is impressive. I will also reward you by making you governor over five cities. You could see also that the magnitude of the reward was commensurate with the magnitude of their productivity.

And so the third servant came up and said, "Master, well, I knew the kind of person you were and you're a hard man and you reap where you don't sow and as such I just simply took your money and I kept it somewhere because I don't want your problem." And he became very said the man became very angry. He said, "Why didn't you just put my money in the bank instead of leaving it completely idle without any added value?" So he did something. He said he told his other servants of the people that were there. He said take that which was given to him and give it to the man who was most most productive. So if you check the story of the parable of the talents, you will notice that it was exactly the same pattern of what Jesus was saying here. So he's showing to you the this key of rewards, motivation, motivating people one positively through rewards and incentives and then also motivating people in a different dimension by letting them know what they stand to lose the repercussions. The side effect of a particular thing they are doing or certain things that they refuse to do or to stop. That is the another way of getting people to stop a particular thing. If you want to change things in Nigeria is not just going to come through rewards. It's also going to it must come also through punishment. It must come also through levies, fines. It must come also through people being corrected in a way that will influence them to do the needful. Without that, many people will never change.

And so Modiah told Esther in verse 14. And if you notice, this was the turning point for Esther. This was the point where Esther eventually had a change of mind. So what did he tell her in verse 14? It says, "If you keep quiet now, help and freedom for the Jews will come from another place. But you and your father's family will all die." That is one of the key things now that woke Esther up and made her quickly do the needful. It says, "Who knows maybe you have been chosen to be the queen for such a time as this."

Then verse 15 to 16 he said then having now heard what she stood to lose having what could happen to her and her own family even though she was queen Esther had a change of mind. So verse 15-16 he said then Esther sent this answer to Modakiah. Go and get all the Jews in Souza together and fast for me. Don't eat or drink for three days and nights. I and my women servants will fast too. After we fast, I will go to the king. I know it is against the law. I know it is against the law to go to the king if he didn't call me. But I will do it anyway.

So in the spirit of whatever it takes, there will be critical moments in life where we cannot just give excuses. Even if your excuse is justifiable, something still has to be done. Something still has to be done. So whatever it takes, similar words to these are words like do, it means do everything possible. Do everything possible to solve that problem. Do everything possible to rescue that child. Do everything possible to ensure that opportunity is not lost. Whatever it takes also means make every possible effort. Sometimes it could mean at any price. Please get this thing done at any price. Get it done at any price. In Proverbs 23:23 Living Bible, it says, "Get the fats at any price and hold on tightly to all the good sense you can."

Whatever it takes also means going ahead to achieve that goal despite anything that will happen. Despite anything that will happen, there would also be a time where to get rid of that problem. There is a probability of also suffering some loss. But what we are saying here is that at times that remains the best option. It remains the best option. It's better to suffer a little loss and get rid of the problem than allow that problem to persist and continue to lose so much endlessly as long as that problem is allowed to stay. So whatever it takes, it means to do whatever is required to achieve a goal. Even if that means taking extreme measures and sometimes questionable measures. But let's take note, this message is not encouraging you to commit sin in order to achieve a goal. It's not encouraging you to compromise in order to solve a problem.

Look at it from so many other perspective. For instance, we need to rescue someone. Right now. So use that kind of a scenario to analyze and appreciate this message. So when an instruction comes, do whatever it takes to rescue that child, rescue that person, many ideas will come to your mind of what could be done to achieve it. So that will give you a better understanding of the direction of this message. No one is calling you to compromise. No one is calling you into sin in order to achieve any particular goal. So it's about using every possible approach no matter the obstacle, no matter the difficulty, no matter the price, the cost, no matter the risk that may be involved, the pain, inconvenience or opposition that may be involved.

And you know when you set out at any time you may have to use this approach one thing must first be settled. The goal must be clear. There must be a very specific goal that you want to address or achieve for adopting this kind of mindset in pursuing the solution. And when it comes to getting the job done, it means that you are willing to go the extra mile to get that thing done. Especially within a deadline. It also means then that you whoever is going with this mentality of mindset must be a person of reason. A person that is determined and a person of strong conviction because it's that conviction that will keep you still pressing on irrespective of what negative things that may happen in the process.

So whatever it takes is an attitude. It's a mindset. And when people embrace this attitude, they are ready to do anything to achieve certain goals. For one, it could be to overcome a serious crisis, to overcome a serious crisis. So there are things you can do, you will need to do successfully, you will need to do in the mindset of the word of of getting something accomplished with this uh whatever it takes attitude and we mentioned seven of them in the first part. We just give the uh the the key the key point there.

One, you must have a strong personal resolve to address the goal.

Number two, don't wait for perfect conditions. Don't wait for perfect conditions. Ecclesiastes 11:4 Living Bible, if you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done. And that was the mistake that Esther was almost going to make. She initially gave excuses. You know, it is not yet time. That's you know you are that implies that she was waiting for a perfect condition which would have been too late. The king had not sent for her for 30 days and there was no guarantee as to the next time he was actually going to send for her.

Number three, you must be willing to do whatever it takes to achieve it. You must put away pride and ego. You must put away fear and take a big risk if necessary. In this same attitude, you must go the extra mile to tolerate people even if you are not that kind of person. You must go the extra mile to adapt with people, please certain people. That's the mindset of whatever it takes. You must be ready to work very hard. Work over time. Work at odd hours. Work on public holidays if you are to get that goal achieved.

And number four, you must go about it with a sense of urgency. You must go about it with a sense of urgency. You must pursue the goal with a sense of urgency and ensure timely implementation of whatever needs to be done.

Number five is focus. Focus. You must give it optimum focus, optimum concentration, optimum attention.

Number six, you must be consistent and persistent. You must be consistent and persistent.

Number seven, you must prayerfully ask God for the grace to do whatever it takes. You must prayerfully ask God for the grace to do whatever it takes.

So in closing, we highlight just one major approach that many times has been used successfully to move people to get things done with this mindset. If for instance you are given a deadline to do whatever it takes to get something done, what are the effective ways to go about it? One of the approaches that will be used is the approach of offering incentives and rewards. Offering attractive incentives and rewards. The moment you offer attractive incentives, attractive rewards, you instantly bring in so many people who will take that same goal with the deepest sense of personal commitment and drive. You are going to see so many people now running and doing everything possible to achieve that goal as a result of the attractive incentive, the attractive reward that you have just offered. And that is why you see that for a wanted man sometimes if they've done all they can and still cannot have a breakthrough and the issue is really burning they would sometimes bring in this key of attractive rewards. And so a very very enticing amount of money will be publicly announced, publicly announced as a reward for anyone that can offer information concerning the wanted man.

Luke chapter 19 12-26. Now if you go and read also the parable of the talents, you will see exactly the same pattern. Those who are fruitful, productive, they are rewarded. And then those who ever fails to even do anything or add value, there is a repercussion. There is a negative consequence. And this is a pattern that is meant to stir up people to go the extra mile and get results.

Secondly, is also meant to push people not to be idle or indifferent with what is expected from them. Because when people know know that whether they do anything or not nothing they stand to lose nothing then most will do nothing. And so in some organizations there are people that just come they resume and all before long they are waiting for closing time and they put in no genuine effort to achieve the burning desires of that organization. But they are so confident at the end of the month they must be paid. At the end of the month they must be paid. They are indifferent to the targets of the organization but they don't but they are confident that they will lose nothing at the end of each month. So wherever that happens and it continues you won't get the best in terms of productivity. So these two keys are important. Not only the positive key of rewarding people. There must also be something to lose. This is what will shake up a lot of people as well. To shake up a lot of people. When people stand to lose nothing and they are occupying the space for productivity in that in an environment they they are they will be hindering the potentials for results at critical times.

So when you want to get results when it comes to a point of whatever it takes and one of the things they are also doing is that if there is a wanted man another way to eat you can offer reward anyone with information on this man you will get this amount of money and the amount the reward the value of the reward must be greater than the effort. The value of the reward must be greater than the effort to achieve that thing. You can't go and put one small amount of money. Put some very very attractive sum of money and people will take it like a contract. They will use their own money to get the intelligence information that will reveal wherever that person is. Another thing that they will also do is that they will make a threat that if we find out that this wanted person was hiding in your compound, hiding in your house, that house will be pulled down. And so all landlords will be informed. Please do a proper check as to who is living in your there is this that this wanted persons their photographs are available online. If any one of them is hiding in your house the day we catch up with them that house will be pulled down. If you also use this approach, you are going to see criminals suddenly relocating from their hiding point. They will quickly relocate from their hiding because they know that the someone in that compound is going to expose them to the security agencies.

So this we're closing with this for now. So one someday we'll be able to look at this key of motivating people. But we've been able to give you an idea of this very very powerful key that even Jesus repeatedly made reference to that one of the ways you can motivate people to do whatever it takes and get a particular problem solved, a particular goal achieved is by offering attractive incentives, offering attractive rewards and then also By coming up with some corrective measure, some punitive measures for those on the other side for those who may be uh indifferent to the goal that is being endlessly pursued at such a time as this. I pray for everyone here today that in any way that this message applies to you at a time like this, I pray that today the spirit of the Lord will begin to move on your behalf, stirring up your own heart. Stirring up the hearts of some key people that need to rise and do certain things urgently in order for certain issues to be resolved permanently or in order for certain goals to be achieved.