The talk addresses the centrality of the Cross in church and faith life, indicating that the presence of the Cross in the church and in believers’ lives expresses the doctrines of the Trinity, the Incarnation, and Redemption.
The Cross reminds us of the world’s redemption by the blood of Christ and of God’s great love (John 3:16) and of the necessity to acknowledge divine justice whose due for sin is death, so forgiveness takes real meaning through transferring our sins to Christ’s account.
The care in marking the sign of the Cross and the blessing teaches believers that every spiritual blessing in the church passes through the mark of the Cross, and that the Cross holds a spiritual power that frightens the devil and removes fear.
Making the sign instills foundational doctrines in children: the Trinity, unity, the Incarnation and Redemption; thus the sign of the Cross becomes a doctrinal inscription in the believer’s heart from childhood.
The Cross is not only a physical wood but a life experience: a call to bear hardships for Christ, readiness to endure pain and persecution or even martyrdom with a spirit of surrender and joy.
There are various kinds of crosses: bodily cross (illness), the cross of mortifying passions (crucifying desires), the cross of service labor (the toil of ministry), and the cross of poverty or hardship; all of them are to be accepted with thanksgiving to become occasions of blessing and reward.
The talk urges the believer to accept his cross without complaint, and considers every labor and sacrifice for God’s sake a sincere work for which the Lord rewards, for the virtue gained through struggle and hardship is greater than virtues gained easily.
Finally, the speaker links the Cross as a sign of power and as a herald of Christ’s second coming, and calls the church to live in self-denial, love, and spiritual struggle as the path to conformity with Christ.

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