I'm having a problem referencing a name within a function.

I have a cell on one sheet that list a defined name. Another cell on a
different sheet uses a vlookup function to return the defined name based on a
date range. then in a third cell I have a vlookup formula that uses the 2nd
cell (the returned defined name) as the "array" but it doesn't seem to
recognize this second cell as a defined name and therefore won't reference
the array. Any suggestions?