Offer something that the person really, really wants. If the person wants the new item badly enough, he or she may be willing to part with their old item.
Yes, you just need the Waterfall HM, which I think you obtain differently in Ruby and Sapphire. All of the steps after that are the same as for Emerald.
At least level 45, and if you aren't comfortable in your Pokemon knowledge, you should go for a higher level. If you are still not comfortable, you could catch Rayquaza...
If you don't want to restart the entire game, just save and then restart your game console. This will start you over from your last save point. If you want...
You probably haven't done the part with Lorelei yet on Four Island. You need to complete that first and get HM07 Waterfall before you can get the sapphire.
You can receive a Beldum from Steven Stone's house after you beat the Elite Four and the Champion. After that, you can breed the Beldum / Metang / Metagross with...