Life After Freedom

Ep 16 - Cadence For A New Year

• Joe Negrón • Season 3 • Episode 16

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The year opens with a drumbeat: God’s cadence calls us to move with purpose, not pressure. We kick off season three by revisiting the five most downloaded moments from the past two years—powerful clips that trace a path from offense and shame to courage, purity, and real freedom in Jesus.

We start with the rhythm of alignment, drawing a vivid connection between marching cadence and hearing God’s timing through Scripture. From there, we explore how offense grows from unmet expectations, why it isolates us, and the three steps that set us free: examine the heart, forgive by God’s strength, and repent. We move into the raw reality of toxic soul ties and the culture of sexual impurity, then reframe purity as intimacy with God—renewing the mind with Romans 12 and practicing true worship with our bodies and choices.

Anxiety takes center stage as an alarm, not an identity. Paul’s playbook—gratitude, intercession, and focus on God’s promises—helps us seek first the kingdom and quiet the loop of fear. We tackle self-disqualification next, trading shame narratives for sanctification’s slow, faithful progress. The most-played message crowns the journey: a straight-talking invitation to step out of slavery to sin. Harriet Tubman’s piercing insight reminds us many don’t know they’re bound; the good news is Jesus already paid the price. Freedom is real, and the door is open.

We close with a practical charge for 2026: fast, pray, shut out the noise, and listen for God’s voice. If you’re ready to reset your rhythm and walk lighter, this highlight reel will meet you with courage, clarity, and hope. Subscribe, share with someone who needs freedom today, and leave a review to help more people find the show. What chapter spoke to you most?

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SPEAKER_00:

Hey, welcome. My name is Joe, and this is Life After Freedom. Let's go. Hey, welcome back. I am so excited that we're celebrating a new year. Happy New Year to you, 2026. Yes, let's go. I love when the new year starts, right? I love the fact that we get to hear fresh perspective from God. God is speaking into our lives. God is aligning us to do his will. God has just got a fresh cadence into our hearts where we can keep up with what he's doing. And I love God's cadence. I love a good cadence as well because I used to be in a marching band in high school. And for some reason, it's always stuck with me. I love a good cadence. It just speaks about what's about to happen. It keeps us in alignment. It keeps us in step. I mean, everybody in the marching band knows when the cadence gets to a certain point, it is time to play. It is time to move. It is time to change the formation. When we know the cadence, we could keep up with what God is doing and what God is telling us. So may you be keeping up with God's cadence today. May you understand his cadence. May it speak to your heart. And how do we know God's cadence? It's by his word. We get to know him, and because we know him, we understand him. And because we understand him, we know when to move and when not to move. You know, he told Joshua in the book of Joshua 1 9, he said, Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. I love that. And you know, I've made that a scripture in my heart. Because this was a mighty warrior of God. And I'm telling you, this man was not scared. He was winning battles. And yet, God said, Be strong and courageous. And why do we need to be strong and courageous when we're already soldiers for God? And we're in this. We're like, we're not afraid. Come on, bring it. But you know what? When God decides to change the cadence, when God decides to do something new, now we start going back to what we used to do because it's easier. But God wants to do something fresh, something new. And I'm just trying to stay very aware of what God is doing. So let's invite the Holy Spirit so that we can stay in step with Him, so that we could actually keep up with what God is doing. If the cadence changes, hey, we're gonna change our step in Jesus' name. Today we're gonna celebrate what has been happening in the past two seasons. I didn't even realize I had done two seasons. I'd done 2024 and 2025, and now we're entering into the third season. So I want to do top five most downloaded episodes. Let's go. In the fifth spot is a life free from offense. So that episode is pretty amazing. What I love about it is that we can't let offense bind us. So in the name of Jesus, we get to live a life free from it, free from the offense of this world. In this world, you will have trouble, but take heart. I have conquered the world, is what Jesus said. So we want to stay free from offense. Now, listen to this episode. So let's start with how and why do we get offended? Let me tell you, offense, it comes as a result of unmet expectations. Those expectations that we have on people, we expect someone to say a certain thing or act a certain way or do something. And if they don't, then we get offended. That's why that control, we try to control the narrative. And that's very unfortunate. Now, who can hurt us? Here's the the catch the closer the relationship, the severe the offense. Now, history shows that the bloodiest wars are civil ones. For example, the United States Civil War lasted four years from April 1861 to April 1865, and more than one million people died. That's insane. Wow, what a great introduction to what offense is and how you can end up being offended. The closer the relationship, the severe the offense. That's crazy. Now, here's a little bit about the consequences of being offended. Listen to this. Now, in the book of Proverbs 18.1, it says, a man who isolates himself seeks his own desire. He rages against all wise judgment. And what is our common reaction when we are hurt and offended? So we usually begin to build up walls to protect ourselves. We do that because we don't want to get hurt, right? And most of us just do it naturally. The Bible says in Proverbs 18, 19, an offended friend is harder to win back than a fortified city. So are people not willing to tell me the truth because they don't want to offend me? Am I allowing people to speak truth into me? If not, what am I missing out on? Ask yourself, what am I missing out on? Now, being rooted in God's word and illuminated by his Holy Spirit will allow us to hear truth from God and from others without becoming offended. We get to receive truth from people that love us and not be offended by it. We need accountability. We need a covering. We need to be transparent with each other. That's why God called us to be the body of Christ. We need the system. We can't do things differently and expect the right results. This is God's design. And the best design of it is in the church. Listen to what comes next. Here are some next steps to ending offense. Step number one, examine your heart. I mean, just pray and say, God, reveal to me if there's any offense. Am I carrying any offense at this moment? Step number two, forgive. And forgiveness doesn't mean that you're okay with whatever happened. Forgiveness just means that guess what? You are desiring to give this to God. Let me tell you, you need God's strength for your life. You need to ask God to help you to forgive. It doesn't come naturally, it's not easy. We need to invite God to help us forgive. Step number three, ask God for forgiveness. Ask him to change your heart. Repent. And repentance just means to go back, to turn around, to go the opposite way. And so you need to number one, examine your heart, asking God to just evaluate your heart. Number two, forgive, asking him to help you forgive because it comes with his strength. And number three, ask God to forgive you. Now that's so important because if we're not able to forgive, we probably don't fully understand what we've been forgiven of. Jesus died on the cross for you. He died on the cross for me. And so maybe that's your first step today, asking for forgiveness, for him to forgive you of your sins. That's incredible. So we have the opportunity to be set free from offense. All right. So for our top fourth episode, we have proclaiming purity after toxic soul ties. And this topic is pretty strong and it made an impression on you guys. Let me tell you, we are looking to unmask the lies of the enemy. Listen to this episode. Soul ties are formed between two people through emotional bonds and sexual relations. Now, let's start with sexual relations. That's the most obvious one, right? As you may have noticed, sexual sin has become increasingly acceptable in our society. Now, parents, they used to cover my eyes during kissing scenes, like movie kissing scenes. But now, with one scroll on social media, we basically run into porn. As a result, we are inundated with sexual impurity. Now, this should come as a warning, what I'm about to say. Be aware, Satan, aka the devil, uses sexual sin to destroy our capacity for intimacy with God. And not only with God, with any healthy relationships. I do have to say that again. I really wanted to sink in that the enemy, the devil, Satan, Lucifer uses sexual sin to destroy our capacity for intimacy with God. That's the whole point. He wants to destroy our capacity to have intimacy with God, destroy the thought process, the definition of it, the definition of love, the way that we view it. He interrupts it. And then it also affects our intimacy with any healthy relationships. Let's get this straight. That's the devil's agenda. And he is not going to stop trying. If he succeeds, that sexual impurity will fill us with shame. The shame can then be overwhelming and paralyzing. And that's the whole point of what he wants to do. He wants to overwhelm us with that shame so that we don't do one thing but submit to him. Acts 22, 16 from the NIV version says, and now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized, and wash your sins away, calling on his name. That's just crazy. The enemy uses sexual sin to destroy our capacity for intimacy with God. Are you going to allow the enemy to stand in the way of your relationship with God? If you're ready to push the enemy away from your life, listen to this. Can we decide today that this is not going to be you? That this is not going to be us, that we're not going to allow the enemy to take the intimacy that we are destined to have with God? Can you say amen? I mean, if you're at the gym, if you're in your car, wherever you're at, just can you say amen? I am not going to allow the enemy to steal my intimacy with God. In Jesus' name. Psalm 145, 18 says, The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. When temptation comes, because it will come, let's just be clear. Keep the word of God in your heart to give no place to the enemy. That's why we have to read the word consistently. Keep the word of God in your heart to give no place to the enemy. And then you speak it out in the name of Jesus. That's awesome. As we keep the word of God in our hearts, we give no place to the enemy. Check this clip out. The word of God says in Romans 12, verse 1 and 2 do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing, and perfect will. Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. Wow, there's a lot of content there, but I want to hone in on your bodies as a living sacrifice. See, Jesus already paid the price. And through that blood there is forgiveness of sins. So now our place is to come before him holy and pleasing as true and proper worship. That means that we're sacrificing, staying pure and holy, because he has already paid the price for us. Now we walk in that holiness and that purity, and that's how we worship him. Isn't that beautiful? That we get to be pure so that we could have intimacy with God and be closer to him. I love that topic. It's so good. It speaks to me even as I hear myself. That's crazy. But it is the word of God. That's why it's the word of God. So our next episode, this is our top three, is free from torment. And this is from the anxiety series. The Bible says in Proverbs 12:25, anxiety in the heart of man causes depression. But a good word makes it glad. Let's focus on anxiety. Anxiety is a feeling of worry or nervousness, usually about an uncertain outcome. There are so many definitions for anxiety, but I'm going to give you a very simple definition that has helped me immensely. Anxiety is an alarm. It's the body letting us know that something is wrong. So the minute I feel anxiety, I already know, hey, I'm not attending to something. Something's wrong. And my body's letting me know. God's design is so intentional. The body gives us warning signs to let us know that something is wrong. Isn't that interesting? But imagine we have a perfect God and He made a perfect design to let us even know when we're experiencing troubles. And so listen to this outline that Paul speaks upon in moments of difficulty and moments that seem like anxiety could take over. He lays out a strategy in the book of Philippians. I want you to hear a little bit of this. In the Bible, there's a follower of Jesus known as the Apostle Paul. Now, Paul was a man that suffered a lot, mainly because, well, he was preaching the message of salvation. Paul had many reasons to be anxious and depressed, and he writes about some of those in 2 Corinthians 11, 23 through 33. If you want to study that, it is amazing to read some of the things that he went through. But I want to focus on what the apostle Paul writes in the letter to the Philippians, because this is what God brought as a word for my life during that time. When he starts the letter to the Philippians, he greets them with the peace of God. He then thanks God for them. He tells them that he misses them. He encourages them that the work that God began in them will be perfected into the day of Jesus Christ. He tells them that he loves them. And then he reminds them, oh, and I'm still in prison, by the way. Like that's crazy. Paul did not begin his letter complaining or focusing on his surrounding like if that was his truth, which I know, I mean, I think not just myself, but we all love a little bit of releasing and complaining. Come on. Because Paul trusted God, he knew God, he knew God's character and his word. Now, anxiety wants us to focus on the future and not the present, to focus on doubt rather than faith. But the Bible tells us not to worry about it. As we think about it, anxiety wants us to focus on the future. But God is saying in his word, Matthew 6 33, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Check this last clip out on the anxiety series. So here's what I started focusing on seeking God first. Crazy, but it's that simple. So think about this, guys. As I want to ask some questions. What are some of the ways that anxiety has expressed in your life? What are some of the ways that anxiety has expressed in your life? Is there a place or moment or person that makes you feel more anxious than others? Also, was there a specific moment from your past where you invited or allowed anxiety to enter? This is a big one because sometimes we just extend an invitation for the enemy to take over without realizing. And we come into a covenant with the enemy, and we break covenant with God. And the covenant with God is to seek him first over all things, not to worry about things. Even Adam and Eve desired other things that weren't offered to them, they had everything they needed, and they fell into the trap of desiring something else, and their life changed completely. God had given them everything, and now they were seeking something else. And for some reason, we're always seeking something else aside from God. And we go into the desires that are far from His for us. Talking about desires that are so far from what God has. As a plan for us, I start this next episode, which is number two, most downloaded episode out of these top five. I called it self-disqualification. The clip starts talking right when I had come back from New York. I had been in the world for some years, and then all of a sudden, it was taking me a long time to come out of that situation, out of that sinful lifestyle. So I start describing it as a pit. Listen to this. I felt like I had fallen on a pit so deep. And it took so much energy to come out of that pit. And finally, because I was able to receive the freedom that I needed, like I needed to escape even the people that I was around and the things that I was doing, the city that I was living in, I was living in New York at the time. But let me tell you, once I got out and I accepted Jesus in my life, and I ran between the crowd to get to him. I just tell you that I received such a peace. The Bible calls a peace that passes all understanding. It's a beautiful place to be. And in that moment, I thought everything was gonna change. And you know what? There was a process that I needed to take called sanctification. That process is what this podcast is all about, the process of being sanctified day by day so that we could be more like Jesus. You know, we could all relate to that. We all disqualify at one point or the other. Here's a little bit of my story. Check this clip out. How many times do we not disqualify ourselves? And so, you know, I've been disqualifying myself for many years in many different things. It all started because when I was a kid, I was bullied around, I was mistreated, I came from a past of being sexually abused, and from there on, everything was just rejection and rejection. And I'm not gonna get into that story right now, but I want you to know that sometimes we just disqualify ourselves before other people do. And you enter into a room and you're already thinking people don't like you, or you're already thinking uh people don't want to be next to me. Maybe you don't go into those deep thoughts, but you're like, hey, you know what? I'm gonna stay over here. And so somehow you distance yourself or you isolate yourself or you self-sabotage just because you don't want somebody to do it to you. You know, I started this podcast with that episode, self-disqualification, because I kept disqualifying myself. And one of my coaches said to me, Hey, you know, why don't you make that your first episode? I thought that was so cool that he did that and that he motivated me in that way to go after what God was calling me into. So, and so blessed to know people like him. Now, in this last clip from that episode of self-desqualification, I mentioned a disclaimer. And this disclaimer in the episode that I mentioned is about the scripture where Paul is saying that I have not reached it yet, but I press on toward the mark. And it's a perfect example of we don't have to be perfect. The Bible says that he will perfect us into the day of Jesus Christ, talking about the process of sanctification. Listen to this clip. No matter where you're at, God is calling you to a deeper level. Sometimes we want to, you know, go to a higher level. But I think that in a relationship with God, God is calling us to feel and to go deeper with Him so that we can see deep inside what it is that has been holding us back, the lies of the enemy that don't need to be there, that make us feel that we're insufficient, that we're not enough, that somehow we're not meant to do the thing that God called us to do because we're not there yet, right? Like the disclaimer. And I'll go back to that disclaimer because I have not reached it yet, and yet I'm pressing on towards that mark. I want to get there. All right, drum roll, please. Most downloaded episode is titled Am I a Slave? This episode probably is the most evangelistical episode I've ever done, and people have gravitated to it from all over the world. I could even hear the passion that I had and noticed that I was filled with the presence of God while I was speaking. I'm literally almost captivated by how God placed in my heart to share this analogy between a slave woman, which is Harriet Tudman, and then how I was captive to my sinful lifestyle. And with no further ado, here's the first clip on the episode Am I a Slave? I am wanting everyone that's hearing me right now to experience the freedom that I feel. The freedom that I felt from the minute that I accepted Jesus, the one, the one that has transformed my life, the one that has made me feel that peace that passes all understanding. I mean, I was so depressed, ready to take my life. And here Jesus came and saved me and rescued me. And I've lived a life of freedom ever since. And it hasn't been easy, believe me, especially once you come from being bound. And in this case, my my bondage was spiritual. I was addicted to drugs, to sex, to alcohol, to vices, to all kinds of idolatry. I lived a life that was completely devoted to that. It kept me bound. I was in search of a counterfeit, trying to cover every hurt and every pain I've ever felt. And I wasn't dealing with the root cause of it. I was enslaved to my sin. And so I want everybody to be able to experience the freedom that I felt and the freedom that I get to live out and enjoy and the plans that God has for me. The Bible says that God's plans for you are good. They're not plans to do you harm, they're plans to do good for you, plans to give you hope in a future. And so today, I just, my desire is that you will experience God's love like never before. That in the middle of everything that you're going through, that you will experience his grace, his mercy. And God is so good. He's so faithful to us, he loves us so much. I can understand that we go through so many things in life, but God, He has a plan for us. He has a plan for you to be saved and live a life from that line that Harriet crossed, that moment that set her to be free, a free woman, that there is a spiritual line as well that is called the blood of Jesus, that will set you free, that will send you into the land of freedom so that you can conquer all that God has for you. Now, let me tell you, he already paid the price for you. The fact is, all you have to do is accept it. Man, I love that line. Jesus already paid the price for you. All you have to do is accept it. It's so good. Listen, that is the message of salvation. I get so excited about hearing the passion that's behind this message, a message of freedom. And in the next clip, there is a struggle there. A struggle of not knowing when you're bound. Check this clip out. But so many people don't know that they're bound. I didn't know that I was bound. I thought I was living the best life until I found myself desiring to take my life away. And that's when I realized, hey, you know what? I need to change something. This is not the way that I'm meant to live. God has to have something better for me. And so I called out on God. Let me tell you, if you call on God right now, He's gonna answer you. He's gonna come after you, He's gonna rescue you from wherever you're at, from that pit, from that loneliness, from that place of isolation, from that place of darkness, that place of bondage, that place that has you bound right now, as a blind man that you cannot see, as a blind woman that you cannot see what he has for you. Let me tell you, God is calling you in this very moment. And I just feel right now the presence of God, just directing these words to someone that is in need. God is waiting for you to just call on him. Call on him, and he will answer. He is knocking at the door. Will you sit and dine with him? Man, God is calling you. Will you answer? That's the question at hand right now. I hope that your heart is being ministered to and that God is just moving in you, and you're able to see yourself the way that God sees you as a free man, as a free woman, that he wants to take you away from the slavery of sin. Come on. It is so good. Now, one of my favorite lines by Harriet Tunman is about to come up. Check this last clip out. So when Harriet was asked how she managed to save hundreds of slaves, she replied, I could have saved thousands if only I've been able to convince them that they were slaves. Wow, that hits me every time I hear it because there's so many people out there that don't know exactly what they're going through. They don't realize that they've been tricked, that they've been lied to, that they're being taken advantage of, that the enemy is keeping them trapped, enslaved. But Jesus said, this is what Jesus says the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to proclaim good news. Come on, good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the good news, the year of the Lord's favor. Let me tell you, God is ready to set you free. Amen. God is ready to set you free. This is the year of the Lord's favor. And what an amazing last clip to end with. 2026 is the year of the Lord's favor. It's so awesome to be able to do this top five most downloaded episodes with you today from the year 2024 and 2025 as we go into season three of the year 2026. Come on. During this time, I'll be taking a break, doing some fasting and prayer to align my spirit, soul, and body to be able to do God's will, to listen clearly, to shut down the noise, the distractions, and be able to tune into everything that He wants to do. I'm looking for that cadence that I was talking about. I want to hear God's voice. I want to hear him clearly in this year. And I want you to do the same. Take some time, pray, fast, allow God to speak into your life and continue to seek a life after freedom. Until the next episode, hey, have a blessed one. Here we go. Hey, do me a favor, hit that follow button so that you can stay connected with the latest episodes. Hey, share it with your friends, your family, or anyone that needs to hear this freedom message.