Everything that we desire in 2016 is nearer than we believe. This time of year, we read many predictions of the new year will hold. From the amazing to the absurd we can find it all on the internet: Who will win sporting events, who will win political office, who will succeed or fail in business. Today, on the first service of the new year, Bro. Hughes comes to predict what is in store for us in 2016. Our text begins with a disclaimer: Be not deceived. God would not have made that statement if it were not possible. The danger here is not being deceived by others, but by our own thoughts The conversation we have in our own head is the subject of this principle. Many will try to convince themselves that God’s word is not what they know it to be. Given the history of truth and demonstration of God’s word, many will question, deny or ignore that word and convince themselves that it does not apply to them. Paul states that God will not be mocked. The word implies that the reader would turn his nose up at the word of God. We can turn our nose up all we want, but God will not be mocked. Heeding the word of God will determine if 2016 will be the best year we have ever had, or the worst. The principle is simple: What we plant will determine the future before it ever begins. We determine what the harvest will be in 2016 by what we sow. All of us will plant things this year. If we want a year filled with joy, then we must plant joy. If we want a year of blessing, then we must plant blessing. If we want a year of mercy, then we must plant seeds of mercy. We will not get something back from life that we are not willing to put into it. We can ignore and refute this simple truth all we want, but that does not exempt us from the fact that we will reap what we sow. People do not determine what happens to our life, we do. We hold in our hands the seeds of what will become of our life in 2016.