The message this morning came from Dafydd Morris who preached from Genesis chapter 28 verse 12. He spoke about Jacob, who was born into the most important family on earth. Although a privileged man, prior to his dream of the ladder, Jacob was a godless man. Until the Lord comes into our lives we are ungodly. At this point in Jacob’s life he was spending his first night away from home in the darkness. The darkness outside is the reflection of the darkness inside – until we are saved. Jacob put his head to rest upon a stone, he sought comfort where there was none. He lay down alone, illustrating his vulnerability.
Yet whilst he was asleep Jacob saw a ladder going from earth to heaven. This ladder illustrates that Jesus perfectly spans the gulf between heaven and earth. At Calvary he brought reconciliation. The bottom of the ladder was on earth – it came right to where Jacob was, just as the Gospel comes to us where we are, not where we should be. We are dead in sins and trespasses, we can’t take the first step, it is all of Grace.
The top of the ladder is in heaven. Christ died to bring us to God. The salvation brings us to the place where we need to be, to be in fellowship with God, in the presence of God in prayer.
Jacob learnt by looking at the angels ascending and descending the ladder, that Jesus is the only way to come to God. We don’t come in our own merit, we come through Christ. The angels came down to serve, we also need to serve. Whatever we do we need to ask for the Lord’s help.
This morning we welcomed back Aaron Davies-Whitfield who continued his study of Philippians, preaching from chapter 1 verses 20-21. Aaron’s prayer for us is to change and grow in Christ. He challenged us to move from living a comfortable Christian life of just going to church, reading our Bibles and praying. We are encouraged to put Christ at the centre of us lives so that we can draw closer to Him and know more of His presence in our lives.
This morning our guest speaker, Gaius Douglas of Calvary Church, Haverfordwest, focused on Ephesians 3 verse 20. We were encouraged to look unto the Lord and above our situations as He is a faithful God. An open time of prayer allowed us to reflect on how great our God is. We were also blessed to have fellowship with regular summer visitors who are no longer visitors but part of our family at Penuel. 
Penuel Baptist Chapel, Roch 