The Woman and the Dragon

This plan is designed to have a Nurturer guide the study, feel free to have other cell members support any of the sections as part of nurturing. All instructions are identified for Nurturer. A separate document (cell content) is meant to be shared.

This cell plan is based on the sermon shared on Sunday, Jan 18th, by Pastor Ted.

Prepare Ahead

• Read Cell Vision Statement
• Meditate on Revelation 12
• Pray and discern next steps for your cell for outreach / prayer partners / grad transition
• Link to sharable version for members: Cell Content

Opening

Nurturer: If there are new members today joining for the first time ask everyone to share something about themselves.

• Note: Has it been a while since your cell has reviewed the cell vision statement? Review it together at: Cell Based Ministry

Icebreaker: What are your predictions for 2026?

Worship

Bible Reading Sharing:

Ask: How was your bible reading in the last 2 weeks, share something from your readings with the group!

Note: If sharing is scarce and always the same people, can start a rotation schedule

Go into musical worship if someone is scheduled. Continue to ask if members of the cell are willing to lead this portion in the future.

Please pray for the group to begin the study.

Nurture: For those who would like to allot this portion of the night to something else feel free to use the prayer exercise:

• Prayer Exercise
• Lectio divina

Word

Revelation 12
12 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. ² She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. ³ Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. ⁴ Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. ⁵ She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.”^[a] And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. ⁶ The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.

⁷ Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon,and the dragon and his angels fought back. ⁸ But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. ⁹ The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

¹⁰ Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:

“Now have come the salvation and the power
    and the kingdom of our God,
    and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
    who accuses them before our God day and night,
    has been hurled down.
¹¹ They triumphed over him
    by the blood of the Lamb
    and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
    as to shrink from death.
¹² Therefore rejoice, you heavens
    and you who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
    because the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury,
    because he knows that his time is short.”

¹³ When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. ¹⁴ The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. ¹⁵ Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. ¹⁶ But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. ¹⁷ Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.

Discussion

Reminders and Recommendations for Nurturers:

• Spend some time in the sermon review to ensure the group has a grasp of the main point of the sermon
  • Ask if there’s anyone who wasn’t able to join, if there is, spend a bit of time to go through the sermon summary being going in to the review questions
  • If everyone was at the sermon, skip directly to the review questions
• Review the questions ahead of time and decide which questions to ask your group. Typically, a good discussion will only be able to accommodate 2-3 questions for a meeting.
  • If being asked in a large group, invite others to join in and response if they have shared similar experiences or thoughts
  • Try to avoid from going around in a circle, as the nurturer, ask follow-up questions and avoid giving advice.
  • In order to allow for deeper discussion, consider breaking the group up into smaller groups to allow more space for sharing.
• Reminder to leave space and time for prayer and witness

Sermon Review

• Core themes: 
  • Cosmic battle: God vs. Satan in real, unseen conflict.
  • Divine protection: God always shields His people from evil.
  • Identity in Christ: Covered by God; our true self is in Him.
  • Here and the note yet: Live victory; feel conflict before final win.
• Main Takeaway: Believers are “well-covered” in Christ, protected by God’s unlimited resources, and should remain calm knowing that Satan’s power is broken, even if we still experience his effects in this present age.
• Review Questions:
  • Who do the characters in this chapter represent:
    • Dragon
    • Woman
    • Child
• Discussion Questions:
  • Introductory
    • Here and the not yet: Is there something you’re waiting on right now, but you know is on the way?
  • Exploratory (4-6 people)
    • God’s Protection: Can you recall a time in your life when you felt God specifically protected or “covered” you through a difficult situation?
    • Are you ashamed or scared to share to others about Christ? (Segway to alpha!)
  • Deep Dive (2-3 people)
    • what is one specific area of your life where you currently feel Satan’s influence or attack, and how can we, as a group, pray for you to experience God’svictory and peace in that area?
• Additional Questions
  • How can we be covered by Christ in our identity and life?
  • How can we be brave and unafraid in our lives?

Witness

• Alpha
  • Joining? http://gcgcny.link/joinalpha
  • Want to serve? http://gcgcny.link/servealpha
• Help Needed for Adult Zone!
  • We’re looking for help in the following specific areas:
    • Administration – Help organize zone wide information
    • Cell Planners – help review sermons and create biweekly cell plans!
• Bible Reading:
  • This year, we will be going through a 2 year bible reading plan together. Access to plan at gcgcny.link/readbible. Use this to share regularly in your cell about what you’re hearing from God